Ellaline's Legacy
by Atlantic Jewel
Summary: Her name is Ella, and her life is like Cinderella's. If Cinderella was ever involved in a war of giant transforming robots, that is. And WHAT is Ella, really? Transformers Animated alternate story, some G1/movie-verse characters, pairings, OC X ?
1. An Introduction Of Sorts

TRANSFORMERS

Ellaline's Legacy

CHAPTER ONE

An Introduction Of Sorts

***

I was sitting at the kitchen table, surrounded by paper, references, fine art liners and expensive copic markers.

I looked at the picture in front of me – I was halfway through inking in the colour of the title. The title was the name as the name of the characters in the drawing. Starscream and Bumblebee. My two favourite Transformers, from Transformers Animated.

Simple stuff, really.

My mind was on the drawing, but my left eye was on the clock. I had half an hour to finish my drawing and pack up - I knew this, which was why I froze when I heard a car pull into the driveway half an hour early.

What the slag?

"Oh my Primus." I whispered, before I jumped into action. Everything was piled up, put into pencil cases and carried upstairs at the speed of light, to my room (which is the attic) and hidden in a special panel in the wall that no one knows about.

Then I ran downstairs again.

Suddenly, I noticed a stray copic marker in the kitchen, sitting on the table like a great yellow beacon. I ran for it, grabbed it, and stuffed it into the pocket of my back jeans.

Just in time, too. Because through the door that leads out to the garage came my step-sisters, Sandra and Sasha (they're twins) and, right behind them, was my step-mother, Fran.

Yes, I live with my step-mother and step-sisters. And I have, ever since my father died in a terrorist bombing in Bali. That was four years ago now, when I was twelve. Sounds like a Cinderella story, doesn't it?

But, my name's not Cinderella. It's just plain old 'Ella'. Ella Phila, if you wanna get technical. But anyway…

Fran stopped when she saw me, and her icy blue eyes narrowed. My heart froze. Was there copic marker on my face? Pencil perhaps?

"Did you start dinner yet?" Fran asked me, in her perfectly articulate voice.

I relaxed, slightly. "Y-yes, Ms. Wiffen, I did." Yes, I have to call her by her last name. But only to her face. Behind her back, I can say whatever I like about her – and I do.

So long as no one else hears it.

"Very good," Fran said, checking the pots on the stove, which contained various foods I'd rather not go into with you. "Go upstairs and get changed." She added, eyeing my old clothes critically.

I remembered the copic marker in my pocket, and nodded hastily.

Fran raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, yes Ms. Wiffen." I said quickly, and hightailed it up the stairs, nearly running into Sandra on the way up there.

Sandra and Sasha are identical twin, with their mother's beautiful dark red hair, and the twins have matching green eyes.

Sandra's were narrowed at me. I could see Sasha peering at me from upstairs, and wondered what was wrong this time.

I soon found out.

"Your _cat_," Sandra said the words as if they tasted bad, and I bristled. "Was sitting on my car," She glared at me. "You know what that means?"

I sighed. "Yes Sandra, I'll wash your car for you tomorrow."

"No, you'll do it now." She said, barring my way to go upstairs.

I said: "But-but it's dinner time!"

"Then you'll just have to hurry then, won't you?" She said, with a superior smile that made my insides curl. "Oh, and Ella? Try to do a better job then what you did last time."

I could see there was no way I was going to win this one. Muttering angrily to myself, I stalked downstairs and outside. I knew that Fran was going to be angry at me and, like always, wouldn't listen to my side of the story. Primus, there were just some times when I REALLY hated my life.

I mean really.

I got outside, and looked at the car parked in the driveway. A yellow Voltswagon Beetle with a black racing stripe.

Totally cute, and totally Bumblebee-like. But real.

I smiled. Sometimes life could be really fun – I loved washing the twins' car, even if I hated the twins themselves. Their car reminded me of my favourite Autobot, and that's why I loved it.

On the hood of the car was a black cat with startling sapphire blue eyes and a collar to match.

"Saphira, Saphira, how many times do I have to tell you _not_ to touch the terror twins' car?" I scolded gently, and picked up my cat, who immediately started purring. I've had Saphira for eight years now, she was a gift from my mother before she died, and I love her, even if she gets me in trouble sometimes.

"Sometimes I wish that Transformers were real," I began, as I filled the bucket with water. It was summer, and so even though it was six o'clock the sun was still out. "I wish that Bumblebee was real, and Optimus, and Prowl, and Cliffjumper…I suppose the Decepticons would have to be real too, I wonder just how evil they'd be. Oh, I wish Transformers were real…" I said, laying both my hands on the car's hood, and running them up and down the racing stripe.

"Ella!" I looked up, to see Sandra standing at the front door. "That's _not_ getting my car any cleaner, you know!"

I sighed. "I mean, I _really_ wish that Transformers were real, Saph." I said sadly, as I began to wash the car again.

Saphira meowed plaintively. The car I was washing seemed to sigh as well, but maybe I was just imagining that.

Wishful thinking.

Little did I know, but my wish was already fully granted.

***

_Somewhere in space…_

A dark figure with glowing red optics watched the screen with masked interest. The small organic, called a human, was washing what was quite clearly an Autobot, a yellow one with a small car alt mode. The organic itself (it was a femme, no doubt) was small, even for a human. She had short dark brown hair and hazel-coloured eyes, and wore black jeans and a yellow t-shirt. Around her neck was a silver necklace with a star on it. Closer inspection of the star revealed the inscription _Ella_. A strange name, one that meant nothing (although the girl _was_ rather elf-like, or maybe a pixie, whatever one was).

Not that he really cared what the organic's name was. He was only interested in one thing about her.

He smiled. "Starscream?"

His second-in-command, who had just walked into the room as the screen went blank, saluted. "Yes, Lord Megatron?"

"Set a course for this planet called…_earth_." Megatron smiled cruelly.

***

_On Cybertron…_

"Ultra Magnus Sir!" Sentinel Prime said, his tone of voice alerting everyone that something was wrong. "The Decepticons are on the move – but we don't know where they're headed!"

Ultra Magnus, one of the oldest and wisest Autobots on Cybertron, looked thoughtful. _It could be…_ He thought, glancing at a mark burned onto his left forearm. It was a star, which bore the name _Ella_ inside of it. _Ellaline's legacy…perhaps now the legacy she left behind will come to pass…and a new hero can rise up…maybe…_

Still, he was worried.

Very worried.

Ellaline's legacy was…very important to him. In more ways than one.

Starting with the All-Spark, and what it meant to all of Cybertron.


	2. My Life, The Movie

CHAPTER TWO

My Life, The Movie

***

I collapsed onto my bed, feeling very tired all of a sudden. And it was only Tuesday…three more days of school to go. I disliked being at school almost as much as I hated being at home. There was nowhere I really felt comfortable, except…

I smiled, just thinking about this weekend, when I could go to Big Nanna's house. Okay, so my step-family would be coming too, but that was okay. Big Nanna – whom is my _great_ grandmother, on Dad's side of the family – lives on a farm just outside of Perth city. At Big Nanna's house, I have over three hundred acres in which I can lose my step-sisters. And, if all else fails, I can go and round up a few snakes or two, and scare them. I may get slapped for it latter. But it's worth it.

Actually, it's _all_ worth it because, next year, I am going to graduate from high school. Then, I have only one year left of living with my step-family, before I can _finally_, FINALLY shift out and become my own independent self.

It'll be sad moving out of the house I grew up in…but I'm planing on renting a flat in the city somewhere. I work at a restaurant – which Fran owns – but I'm certainly not going to stay _there_ forever! I long for the day when I can walk out of that place…I have a speech written and memorized, and I'll throw my Japanese-style maid outfit onto the floor. I won't tell you what I'm gonna do with my roller-skates, though.

Lifting myself up to the window-sill with my arms (I may be small but I'm strong) I looked out over the front yard, which was bathed in the orangey sunset light. The sprinklers were on, even though it's not our day to water the lawn (tell that to Fran) and, from where I was perched, I could quite clearly see Fran's car, which is a beautiful – expensive – red Ferrari 458…would you rob a bank in one? Maybe. Would you rob a bank to _buy_ one? Definitely. But Fran just paid for it with some of Daddy's life insurance…

I could also see the twins' car, which was gleaming as I'd just washed it.

I sighed, just looking at that yellow Bumblebee-look-alike. I wished that it were _my_ car…

My eye-lids began to flutter, and I could feel the waves of exhaustion washing over me. Maybe I _am_ working too hard…

Or maybe I was just hungry. I had just been sent to bed without supper, after all.

***

_I was sitting in a car, but I didn't know which car it was. The radio was playing, Underneath The Radar I think the song was. The Underworld version. The landscape outside flew past – we were driving along one of those long stretches of road you usually find reserved for places like California or whatever that place outside of Mission City was._

"_Where are we going?" I was surprised at how my voice sounded – it didn't sound like my own at all._

_I also didn't know who I was talking to. But, I got an answer._

"_I don't know," Came the disembodied, slightly mechanical voice. It sent a shock of recognition through my spine, for reasons I couldn't quite explain._

_But it seemed to be coming from the __car__…_

"_But," The voice – it was a male's voice – continued. "I __will__ get you out of here, out of harm's way. Just like I promised."_

"_Who __are__ you?" I wanted to know._

_The voice was silent for a moment, as the song changed to Tomorrow, by Shimokawa Mikuni. The starlight above seemed to flash by in loops and chords, staining the sky with an aurora of sorts. It was beautiful, haunting and eerie, and seemed totally out of place._

_But I loved it, because it gave me hope. I didn't know why, though._

"_Ella?" The voice sounded uncertain._

"_I want to know." I said firmly. I felt like I had had this conversation before. "Tell me…who you are. Before it's too late." I added, even though I had no idea what I meant by that._

"_Ella, I am the one…who loves you the most." The voice sounded firm, like he had been wanting to say this for quite some time now. "I can't live without you anymore. And don't you ever forget that…but if you do, then I'll remind you just how much I love you. You __complete__ me."_

_I didn't know what to say to that. I didn't know what it meant._

"_I…complete you?"_

"_Ella…" The voice sounded sad._

"_ELLA!!"_

***

I awoke with a start, to find Sasha shaking my shoulder, and my head on the window-sill. Oh slag, I must've fallen asleep…I think I need to see a doctor.

"W-what's going on?" I mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Sasha sounded dead anxious, and the expression on her usually vacant face alarmed me. "What happened?" I asked, wider awake now.

"No time to explain, just come downstairs!" She cried, yanking me forcefully out of the room. "It's horrible!" She added, in an almost wail.

"Sasha!" I cried, yanking my hand back. We were halfway down the stairs now, but I wasn't going another step until she told me what in the world was going on! "_What_ is going on!? What's horrible!?"

"Ella!" Fran appeared at the foot of the stairs, and Sandra was with her. I was surprised to see Sandra looked pale underneath all her makeup. It scared me. Had something happened? "Don't take that tone with your sister!"

At any other time, I would've stated that Sasha is _not_ my sister, but by then I had become too worried by whatever was going on to correct Fran. So, instead, I whispered: "What's happened?"

Fran opened her mouth to speak, but the doorbell beat her to it. (Our doorbell plays _Fur Elise_).

"Ah," Fran said. "That'll be the police. Don't worry girls," She said, addressing my step-sisters. "They'll track down your car."

My mouth dropped open.

***

Fran opened the door to let the policemen in.

There were two of them. One was short and chunky (oh, okay, he was fat) and he had blonde hair and a big nose. He introduced himself as police chief Faren Zanders, and he reminded me so much of Captain Fanzone from Transformers Animated it was scary. If I heard him say 'this is why I hate machines', I wouldn't be at all surprised. I liked him immediately, though, because he was just so straightforward, getting right down to the point of things.

The second police officer was taller, but younger, maybe in his early twenties. He had black hair, and was wearing sunglasses even though it was night. He introduced himself as Bard Arice but, other than that, he didn't say much.

I noticed he kept looking at me though (probably wondering where I fit in with this family – I look nothing like my step-glitches) – and the twins kept on looking at _him_. I could give you three good reasons _why_…

Faren did most of the talking, mainly asking the boring questions such as where had we last seen the car and yadda-yadda. I grew bored, and impatient, until he directed a question at me.

"You were the last one to see the car, correct?" He had a pencil poised over a notebook, and appeared to be waiting impatiently for my answer.

I realised I had just about fallen asleep on the couch chair again, and sat up a little bit straighter. I nodded. "Yes, that's right. I washed the car at about…" I checked my watch. "Six-ten." (Faren wrote that down). "And then at about five past seven I saw it again from my upstairs window." I didn't want to mention that I had fallen asleep.

And I didn't have to because, just then, Bard spoke up for the first time. "You were washing the c-car at six-ten?" He seemed to be checking something, and was looking right at me. It gave me chills, but I can't say that it was unpleasant.

I nodded again. "That's right." And I took the opportunity to glare at Sandra. "So, when you find it, it'll be shiny."

Sandra glared back at me.

Bard glanced at her, and then back at me. "Anything else?" He asked me.

I shook my head, noticing a tattoo on his neck underneath of his collar, but I could see some of it. It was black, and I could make out a six, and part of a four, and then what looked like a barcode. Cool tattoo.

"When will you find our car, officers?" Sasha asked tearfully.

"We'll find it when we find it, if at all." Faren muttered, and I had to bite back a smile. "Bloody kids and their cars. This is why I hate machines."

There it was!

_Oh my Primus, he said it._ I couldn't hide the smile then, and I noticed that Bard looked like he was trying not to smile now.

The only sound was Faren packing up his things, and the occasional sob from Sasha.

Something very interesting happened then.

Saphira wandered into the living room where we were seated and, for some reason, we all happened to look up at her.

As soon as she saw Bard, she hissed. The hair on her back stood up, her tail stood on end, her ears flattened…and then she pounced!

Just as the telephone rang.

"_Okay_!" I yelled, leaping up from the sofa chair and grabbing Saphira by the scruff of her neck in mid pounce, as I dashed into the kitchen.

"_Ella_!" I heard Fran yell, and heard her coming into the kitchen.

I picked up the phone, just as she came into the kitchen.

"Hello?" I said, and then my eyes widened. This…it had to be some kind of a…it couldn't be…

"_We're … our way…we should arrive…tomorrow…_"

"_Protect…her kid…that?_"

"_Yeah yeah…heard ya_!"

All of the voices – but especially the last one – sounded familiar.

I slammed the phone down hard, spun around, and ran to the front door, pushing past a startled Fran.

I flung the front door opened, and ran outside.

I stared up at the sky.

Saphira, in my arms, began to purr silently, a content and calm sound.

I heard the others come outside behind me, heard Faren ask where his partner had gone, didn't register anything strange going on at all.

Except for one thing.

Up there, in the sky, in place of where the Bat-Symbol should be.

It was the Autobot symbol instead.


	3. Karr

CHAPTER THREE

Karr

***

I woke up the next morning and, for a moment, a completely forgot about what had happened the night before.

Then, the terrible alarm of my Nintendo DS (a present years and years ago from Daddy) went off right next to me, and my eyes snapped open.

"Oh dear…I'd better go and make breakfast."

Yes, I have to cook breakfast for my step-family. Can we say Cinderella anybody?

I climbed out of bed and made my way downstairs, with Saphira at my heels.

On the kitchen table, I found a note with my name on it. It said: Ella, I've taken the twins to buy a new car, Fran.

I read the note in disbelief, and then showed it to Saphira, who rolled her amazing eyes, and then demanded tuna. Since I knew she wouldn't leave me alone until I fed her, I fed her first, and then set about making my own breakfast – pancakes!!

I also had a cup of coffee – I can't live without it. Sometimes I think I'm like Max from Maximum Ride – I can't function properly without coffee and a lot of food, yet I don't put on any weight.

Oh, but I don't have wings!

I went back upstairs, and dressed in my school uniform. A light blue school dress, white socks and a red bandanna to tie around my neck.

Plain and simple, a summer uniform.

NOTHING like our winter uniforms, but that's St. Josie's High School for ya.

Speaking of which…

"I'd better get a move on if I don't want to be late." I said, before brushing my teeth and my hair, and then grabbing my school bag (which I've had for about a zillion years, but it has a shiny sheen to it still, so I like it).

I hurried downstairs and grabbed my shoes – and rollerblades.

"Okay Saphira, I'm gonna let you out now, but if you annoy the neighbours you're on your own." I said jokingly, opening the front door and Saphira streaked between my feet and outside – probably headed next door to annoy the neighbour's Chihuahua. I followed…and nearly tripped over a box sitting right there on the welcome mat.

Oh, okay, I _did_ trip over it, but it doesn't count because no one saw it!

I pulled myself into a sitting position and, ignoring the grazes on both my knees, examined the package.

The first thing I realised was that there was hardly any postage on it. The next was that it was from Sound Vibe – my _favourite_ music store.

The next thing I noticed was that it was addressed to _me_!

I gasped. "The contest! Yay! I won!!" I began tearing into the package, little-kid-on-Christmas-style. I had entered the contest recently, but I never expected to _win_ it…

"Alright!" I cried, holding up the (shiny) new MP3 Player. It was dark greenish-blue (mostly blue) with a gold trim and black and red headphones. "_Excellente_!" I cried, and took it out of its packaging.

A little white square of paper fell out, and I unfolded it carefully, reading.

"Dear Ms. Ella," I read out loud. "Congratulations on winning our contest. Please enjoy the selection of songs we have already placed on your new MP3 Player. Sincerely, Sound Vibe management."

I shrugged. "Well, that's cool." I ditched the box into the bin (Fran would kill me if she found out about it), put on my rollerblades, and then put the MP3 Player headphones onto my head. I turned my new toy on. I bid a silent farewell to my old one (now resting in pieces at the bottom of the swimming pool) and skated down the driveway as the first song came on.

"Oh, _Twenty One Gun_, by Greenday." I noticed. "One of my favs." I skated as fast as I could down the street, and swung around the corner. I love to go fast, it makes me feel so alive.

Unfortunately, my knees weren't very happy about it, and I slowed down and grabbed onto the crash rail on the bridge near our house, glancing down at the blood on my knees (_"did you try to live on your own?"_). "Well…now what?" I asked no one in particular, but the random guy walking past me shrugged.

I ignored him, and bent down to get a closer look at my knees. And, as I did, I felt someone come up behind me and grab me around the waist.

"Kyaaaa!" I shrieked, despite myself, before spinning around and coming face-to-face with my BFF.

Well, she may be my best friend for all eternity, but she scared me half to death. Her name is Kara Souls (call her anything but Karr, however, and she will kill you) and she has been my best friend since forever. She's sixteen, like me, but she doesn't go to St. Josie's. She goes to school in Gosnells, which is one reason why Fran doesn't like her.

The other is because Karr, who is only _just_ taller than me but makes up for it with a BIG personality, is as punk as they come. She dyed her hair black, has the darkest eyes I've _ever_ seen (seriously, they'd be like shark eyes if they could roll back, and didn't have silver speckles in them), and wears nothing but black day in and day out. She has three holes pierced in each ear, a belly-button ring and Primus knows what else.

She also loves to scare me.

"Hiya scaredy!" She said cheerfully, ignoring the looks we were getting from other people. "Heeeey, you won!" She took the MP3 Player out of my pocket. "Cool colours, although black would've been better."

"Says you." I said. The music was still on, I was listening to _Leave_ _Out All The Rest_ by Linkin Park, another one of my favourites. "Anyway, did you…"

"See the Autobot symbol emblazoned in the sky last night?" Karr's eyes sparkled. She's almost as a big a Transformers fan as me. She likes Animated Blitzwing, and for good reasons, too. "I wish it had been the Decepticon symbol…who do you think did it?"

I shook my head, taking the earphones out so I could hear her better. "I don't know…hey, are you stopping by today?" I meant at the restaurant – I had work, and sometimes Karr hangs out, because Fran's not there on Wednesdays.

Karr shook her head. "Can't. Choir got pushed up to Wednesday this week." Karr's in the choir – she's actually a really good singer. "So you're going to Big Nanna's this weekend?"

I nodded. It was amazing how we could jump from one subject to the other, and not lose track of anything – or of each other. "Unless Fran changes her mind about it or something…"

"I'll kill her for you if she does!" Karr declared. Her eyes flashed. "May Primus himself curse her very soul, she's such a…" A noisy truck drove past, drowning out the rest of her sentence.

But I got the gist of it. "Karr!" I gasped.

She shrugged. "Well, you just take care of yourself, okay El?" She said quietly, and I smiled. It's never boring having a bi-polar friend, let me tell you. "I'll call you on Friday night, okay?" My step-family and I would be getting up very early on Saturday (one of many reasons Fran might decide not to go), and so Friday night was the last night Karr and I would have to talk, since I was getting home late tonight, and Karr would be going to her father's tomorrow (the Souls are divorced).

"Cool." I agreed, and then added: "Oh, and if you see the twins' car – tell it to come home." I said meaningfully.

Karr caught on right away. "Oh El, did something happen to Bee-Bee?" She asked, using the name we both gave the yellow bug.

I nodded. "Someone stole it last night…" Suddenly, something caught the corner of my eye, and it was the _scariest_ car I have _ever_ seen. It was also coming right for us!

I didn't think, I just grabbed Karr's hand and yanked her back. We both crashed into the crash barrier (that's not what it's there for) and the scary car sped past, not even bothering to slow down as it sped around the corner.

"What the slag!?" Karr and I both yelled at the same time, just as a second car sped around the corner, and she and I just stared at the yellow, familiar-looking Voltswagon beetle…it _couldn't_ be…

Karr and I exchanged a look, I'm sure my startled expression matched hers, and we both helped each other up.

"Well, at least we know it's still intact." Karr said diplomatically.

"This is getting weird…" Was all I could say. "Just…weird." I shook my head, and glanced into the water. "What's next – the _All-Spark_?"

"Yeah," Karr said, following my gaze, as a big fish glided lazily downstream, followed by a bull shark. "And Blitzwing is in love with me." She added.

I laughed.


	4. Chasing Cars Chasing Me

CHAPTER FOUR

Chasing Cars Chasing Me

***

I rollerbladed fast into the school car park, but it was no use. I knew I wasn't going to make it. I couldn't believe I was going to be late. The _last_ thing I needed was detention tonight…oh Primus, Fran would KILL me!

A stray bandicoot suddenly jumped out in front of my path. "_Out of my waaaaaay_!!" I yelled, jumping over the startled marsupial, and continuing on my way. "Sorry," I called back to it. "I'm late!"

I could hear the morning announcements being announced over the PA system. It was Nacho Day at the canteen, the head of the gardening committee was retiring, whoever had graffitied the principal's car was in big trouble, etc.

I grabbed onto a pole with my left hand, and used it to swing me around a corner. There was no one outside of class now, I knew I had about three seconds to get to class – no time to stop at my locker – and my class was all the way across the other side of the school!

Oh, for Primus' sake!!

I needed a slagging miracle if I was going to avoid detention, and save myself from two kinds of wrath.

Anything…

An alarm suddenly went off, scaring the slag out of me, followed by a voice on the PA system declaring a Code Alpha.

Alpha?

Armed Intruder!?

_Armed Intruder_!!

ZOOM!! I was across the other side of the school in a flash, and stumbling through the door of our homeroom, which is in the library.

The librarian, and our homeroom teacher (Lisa Downman) were huddled together talking to a few other teachers, and so no one saw me slip onto the floor next to a desk more quietly then I'd entered the library, and take off my rollerblades.

As I slid into my shoes, I caught snitches of conversation all around me.

"Aww man, I _hate_ Code Alpha." Someone said.

"Let's see what's going on." Another boy said, and stuck his head up to look out the window.

"Sean!" A nearby girl hissed.

"Hey, there's the gardener!" Sean exclaimed.

We could all see the head-gardener strolling by, without a care in the world. By now, everyone was looking out the window. Even I was.

"Oh well, he's retiring, he doesn't care if he gets shot." Doyle Banes declared.

"No way, it's totally _him_ man," Sean disagreed. "_He's_ the armed intruder. He's leaving, and he's taking us all out with him!"

Everyone was laughing by that stage, and finally Ms. Downman came over and told us to be quiet.

I bit back on my grin, and sat back up when the drill was over.

It was going to be a normal day.

Thank to that miracle.

***

Or so I thought. At lunch time, I went to HJ's (Hungry Jack's) for lunch. Senior students are allowed to do that. I sort of walked with a group of kids from my own school, a group which included the twins which is why I didn't walk _with_ them.

We had to walk across train tracks to get to HJ's (which is a very popular hang-out spot for high school kids from around here), and I was the last one across.

I was listening to my Bachelor Girl on MP3 Player, and not really paying attention, so I didn't really see the train until it was nearly on top of me.

I _did_ hear screaming, though. No one wanted to see anyone, even me, get hit by a train. I didn't have time to think or speak. I just jumped back, and the train came _three inches_ close to me, as I stared at the strange purple and white express train that sped on by.

Everyone was staring at me, and then people began asking if I was alright.

I didn't answer them, for all I could hear was: _A man can kill and still be the sweetest love. So I walked under a bus, I got hit by a train_…

***

I left school that afternoon, intent on heading straight for Carlotta's Café (named after Fran's Mum). I suppose I should mention here that the restaurant is in my Daddy's name but, since he's dead, Fran gets it.

This is very unfair.

I crossed a street, and then I spun around and stared at the yellow Voltswagon bug parked across the street from me.

I stared at it, and it seemed to stare back at me.

Suddenly…I had no doubts in my mind that it was the twins' car.

Bee-Bee.

For some reason, this freaked me out, and I spun on my bladed heel and skated off fast down the street.

I didn't have to turn around to know that the car was following me.

For some reason, this freaked me out even _more_. I thought…well, I don't know _what_ I thought. It never even crossed my mind that it could be the _thief_ chasing me like this…

No, my mind was completely off the deep end.

_I was being stalked by a yellow car._

"Stop following me!" I cried as I skated at breakneck speed down a busy street, and the car somehow managed to follow me.

And, I _swear_ this is true, I heard a response. "I caaaan't!"

So I answered: "Yes you _will_!"

And that was when I saw Carlotta's Café. "Yes!" I cried, for once happy to see the restaurant that used to be known as Sparky's Diner. Happy to see the white and pink chequered design, and the…okay, maybe not _that_ happy.

But I sailed through the doors anyway, and straight into the arms of the co-manageress of the café, Jasmine (Jass) Finchley. She is twenty-two years old, and just about the coolest person ever. She's also like the big sister I never had.

I would totally _hate_ work if not for her!

Also, she reminds me of Jazz from Transformers Animated.

"El!" She exclaimed, somehow managing to keep us both balanced, despite the fact that she was on roller skates and I was still on my rollerblades. "What's wrong girlfriend, you look like you just seen a ghost!" See? She's a female, non-robot Jazz.

"I…car…follow…me…" I panted, unnaturally out of breath for some reason.

Jass guided me into the kitchen and into the back room, where my uniform was hanging up and about a katrillion stock-take lists were stacked. "Take ya time El, getcha breath back." She said soothingly. Her black hair, which is braided, was tied in the compulsory bun. I made a mental note to tie my own hair up, as I sat down on a step-stool, and caught my breath. I decided to take two minutes, before changing into that hideous maid uniform and roller skates.

Daddy would have _never_ wanted the place to turn into a Japanese-American diner/café thing. Slag, _I_ never wanted it to!

***

"_Bumblebee, what's your status?"_

"_We've got a situation, Prime – she just went into a place named Carlotta's Café. And she's still got a strong Decepticon signal on her."_

"_Find a way of getting in there. Make sure you find out what the signal was, but do __not__ let her know who you are."_

"_Affirmative."_

***

"Hello!" I said, hoping my cheerfulness didn't sound fake. Because, standing on white and pink rollerblades, and wearing a white and pink maid outfit that makes me look like Berry from Tokyo Mew Mew A La Mode makes me feel _very_ fake. "Welcome to…Carlotta's…" I trailed off. I stared at the boy who had just come into the café. Then, I tried again. "Uh, welcome to Carlotta's Café!" I said quickly, and then I zoomed back behind the counter, where I flung myself down onto the ground and pretended to get something out of the cupboard.

My heart was racing. We get a lot of different people coming into the café (since we're located in Fremantle and all) and sometimes we get some fairly cute guys coming in.

But _this_ boy took the cake!

I dared to look up again, peeking up from behind the counter, so that only my hair and eyes showed.

"Yikes!" I whispered, ducking back down again, unsure why I was so unable to compose myself.

Suddenly, someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I jumped up, to see Jass smiling at me in an amused way. "El?" She asked.

I put my hand to my heart. "You _scared_ me!" I accused her.

"Well, _you_ scared _me_." Jass replied. "What were you _doing_?"

"Did you see that boy who just came in?" I asked her in a hushed voice.

"Honey, I see _thousands_ of boys who come in." Jass replied.

Hurriedly, I described this particular boy to her. Around 5'8", with spiky blonde hair streaked with black, and _electric_ blue eyes. Wearing black jeans and a yellow jacket, about my age…

When I got to the part about him being about my age, Jass began smiling, and I guessed what she was thinking.

"Jass!" I complained.

She smiled more. "Sorry El. But, I think you scared him off, cause' he ain't here anymore…"

I glanced around. Omigosh, she was right! I blushed.

"I won't tell Fran if you don't," Jass said cheerfully, and her gaze drifted over to the drinks fridge. "Hey, El, can you stock up the fridge for us?" She muttered something about needing to ask Fran to buy more drinks, and then decided to just do it herself.

I nodded, and headed out the back, but I tripped on the way.

"Oh damn it!" I cursed. I _hated_ these roller skates, I just couldn't handle them. "Jass..?"

"Put your blades on honey, your step-mum won't be in today." Jass suggested, as she began counting money out in the till.

"Yes!" I said in relief, and took the horrid skates off. I tossed them into a corner, and headed into the back room to put my blades on.

I sat down and strapped them on, but I got the feeling I wasn't alone.

I happened to glance up then…and saw the boy from before.

He was standing in the corner of the room, his electric blue eyes piercing into me.

In his hand was my MP3 Player.

My eyes narrowed, and I stood up quickly.

The boy and I faced each other.

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could the boy pushed past me and ran out of the storeroom.

He was fast!

Without thinking, I gave chase.

I streaked out of the restaurant, not bothering to worry about my maid's outfit, and followed the boy out onto the road.

_How_ he managed to run so fast, I knew not, but there was no way I could let him get away.

I was _not_ going to let him get away. For reasons I couldn't explain, I felt that it was in my best interests to follow him.

And not _just_ because he had my MP3 Player.

Oh…he was wearing rollerblades too.

Okay, that explained a lot.

But I still followed him.

I was determined to find out who he was…

Because he had NOT been wearing those rollerblades before.


	5. Survival

CHAPTER FIVE

Survival

***

The scenery blurred past me, as I stayed intent on staying on the boy's tail.

By now, he was well aware of my presence, and had tried many times to lose me. Feigning, baulking and some other third thing, he tried them all.

And I stayed on his tail continuously.  
Finally, he seemed to get annoyed. "Would you just _stop_!!??" He yelled over his shoulder, as he took me through another series of twists and turns.

"Why don't _you_!?" Was my response.

"_Why should I_!!??"

I was surprised I wasn't tired at all. Maybe I was having an adrenaline rush?

So I responded: "_You're the one who stole MY MP3 Player_!!!"

He stopped so suddenly, and without warning, that I crashed into him. My MP3 Player flew out of his hand, and both he and I fell to the ground – him on top of me, of course.

I usually would have been embarrassed, or maybe even a little bit…umm…well, anyway, the point is what went on with the MP3 Player.

Only it wasn't an MP3 Player.

It _transformed_. Pieces rearranged themselves, placed themselves in different places. Pieces appeared from Primus knows where…it _grew_…

The headphones did the same thing.

Until what I was left staring at was Soundwave, the Decepticon, and that bird/guitar thing called Laserbeak.

Oh. My. Primus.

My mouth must've dropped open then, and my eyes must've widened to the side of diner plates.

The boy who was on top of me glanced at me for a second, before he glanced over his shoulder at Soundwave.

"Oh _please_." He groaned, and then he jumped off of me…and he transformed too.

I was still lying there, staring wide-eyed, and the boy transformed into…

Bumblebee.

Of course.

It was Animated Bumblebee, just like Animated Soundwave (and Laserbeak).

It was amazing, it was surreal…and it was _happening_.

Karr was gonna freak out when I told her.

The silence between the end of Bumblebee's transformation and the start of his battle with Soundwave lasted exactly a fifth of a second.

Seriously, I blinked and the wait was over.

The battle began.

"Go to hell, you Decepti-creep!" Bumblebee shouted, aiming his stingers at Soundwave, who easily dodged out of the way, and then used Laserbeak to amplify waves of sound at Bumblebee, who cried out and covered his audio receptors.

"Ravage, deploy!" Soundwave said in his monotonous voice, and something came out of his chest…

My eyes opened wide in shock, as a huge metal panther padded toward me. Ravage? But…he didn't exist in Transformers Animated!

Well, I had news for myself – this _wasn't_ Transformers Animated!

This was _real_!!

I cried out as Ravage lunged at me, and his paws landed on either side of me, his claws ripping parts of my puffy sleeves (what a shame). His razor sharp metal fangs were inches away from me, and I was reminded of something from _Beast Wars_.

"_Ella_!" Bumblebee, who was still too busy fighting Soundwave, cried.

I didn't have time to ask how he knew my name – I had to get myself out of danger! There would be plenty of time for this later, when – _if_ – we both survived this thing.

And, I was going to have to act fast if I _ever_ hoped to survive this thing.

Without even thinking, I grabbed Ravage around his neck, and pushed, sliding myself underneath and away from his jaws, and out from under him. I heard his roar of protest, as I struggled to get up, not wanting to _think_ about what the back of my dress now looked like, and I spun around and skated as fast as I could in the direction I needed to go.

"Where are you going!?" Bumblebee called after me.

"I have a plan!" I shouted back, as Ravage let out a savage growl and gave chase.

I was sorry I couldn't stay around and watch Bumblebee fight Soundwave, the way they do in movies. But I had a killer kitty on my tail, and it needed to be dealt with.

I bladed onto the main street, with Ravage hot on my heels. Ignoring the screams of pedestrians and the swerving of cars, I dodged my way in and out of traffic and such, weaving an incredibly complicated path toward what I was after – the Fremantle Line.

As in the train line.

I dared to check my watch, and saw that it was five-fourteen.

Excellent.

I heard the train whistle approaching as I skated alongside the tracks, and only prayed that my plan would work.

Or else I'd be dead.

Laughing grimly at the two possible outcomes, I swung around so that I was _on_ the train tracks, and waited for Ravage to catch up with me.

He approached, growing under his breath and twitching his long, metal tail.

So like Saphira, and yet so unlike her. Starting with the eyes.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty…" I taunted softly, and he growled angrily in response.

The train was picking up speed, I could hear it coming toward the corner. Ravage wouldn't see it until it was too late.

I only hoped _I_ could move before…

There it was!

The train rounded the corner just as Ravage sprang, and swiped at my shoulder with his claws! I yelled out in pain, as blood spurted from my shoulder, and I was pushed back, out of the train's way.

Ravage wasn't so lucky, and the train hit him head on. Bits of Ravage went flying everywhere, onto the carpark, and into the ocean.

And I was left dangling from the bridge with my good hand – and my fingers were slipping.

"Oh Primus…" I whispered, remembering the bull shark from this morning. No doubt who I'd end up meeting if I fell into the ocean with blood on my shoulder!

Was this how I would die? By escaping a giant metal panther only to fall off a bridge and get eaten by a shark?

The irony of the situation made me laugh softly, but it also brought tears to my eyes, as my fingers slipped the last final inches and I fell…

Only to have my arm grabbed by a much larger hand then my own, and I didn't realise my eyes had been closed tightly until I opened them.

I looked up then, into the electric blue optics of one Autobot Bumblebee.

I gulped.

"It's okay Ella," Bumblebee said, as he pulled me up from certain doom. "I got ya. You're safe now."

"Thank you, Bumblebee." I said in a quiet voice, as he put me on the edge of the bridge, and I slumped down against the railing, staring at the waves on the water. "Ravage is gone." I added, feeling very tired all of a sudden.

"I know," Bumblebee replied. "I saw what you did, Ella. That was amazing."

I shrugged, and then winced when my shoulder hurt. "Eh, I just got the idea from when _I_ nearly got hit by a train this afternoon." I stood up, keeping one hand on the railing. "What happened to Soundwave?"

"I don't know," Bumblebee replied, in a strange voice. "He took off for some reason before I could beat him, and then I had to come find you." He paused for a moment, and appeared to be listening to something. "Oh, okay then," He said to someone who was not me. "Yeah, I can see you now."

For some reason, I had to look up at the sky.

And I wasn't at all surprised to see what looked like four meteorites, coming towards earth.

"Ella," Bumblebee said to me, and I looked up at him to see him looking down at me, and smiling. "Are you ready to meet the other Autobots now?"

Was I? Suddenly, I wasn't so sure and, for a moment, my heart seemed to falter. And then Bumblebee's optics sparkled, and I knew my answer was yes. "Always." I said, with a firm nod.

Bumblebee nodded too, and then stepped back a little bit, before transforming into the yellow Voltswagon that had once belonged to the twins. "Well, get in then." He said, opening his door to me, inviting me in.


	6. Autobots Arrive!

CHAPTER SIX

Autobots Arrive!

***

"We should let Ratchet take a look at your shoulder." Bumblebee said to me, as we sped along the freeway toward the rural side of Perth.

I was sitting in the passenger seat, and I slid my eyes sideways to glance at Bumblebee's holoform, who was 'driving'. He was glancing at me.

"We'll see." Was all I said, because I didn't want to have anybody fussing over me.

Bumblebee's holoform pouted and, for some reason, that made me laugh, as he picked up speed and took us onto the new part of the freeway.

I didn't know where we were going, or what time I'd be back.

But I did know one thing.

I didn't care.

***

Bumblebee and I arrived at our destination – a field out in the absolute middle of nowhere.

He stopped, I got out, and he transformed.

I looked in awe at the meadow…there was smouldering wreckage there and, from the four spots where the "meteors" had landed, came four silhouetted frames, each more impressive then the last.

I stared in awe, one hand on Bumblebee's ankle, as the other four Autobots came toward us.

"Bumblebee," Came a voice I'd know anywhere, for it was Bulkhead. "Is that you?" He sounded excited.

"Move." Bumblebee whispered to me, and I did as I was told.

Lucky for me I listened, because Bulkhead came crashing toward Bumblebee, and wrapped him up in a bone-crushing hug. Bulkhead was _much_ bigger in real life then I'd expected.

"Take it easy, big guy!" Bumblebee exclaimed, but he was smiling. I wondered how long it had been since they'd seen one another.

I felt the ground shake, and reached out a hand to steady myself on the nearest object – which happened to be the black and gold motorcycle-bot/cyber-ninja named Prowl.

I stared up at him, my hazel eyes two big round O's.

He gazed back down at me, calmly. "Are you alright, Ella?"

"Of _course_ she's not alright," Came another voice, answering before I could. And Ratchet strode toward us, stopping a few paces away. He glared at Bumblebee, as Bulkhead set him down gently. "I thought I told you to protect her!" The old medic-bot said accusingly.

I felt the need to jump to Bumblebee's defence, suddenly. "Hey, it's not Bee's fault, alright? He was getting my MP3 Player which turned out to be Soundwave away from me, but then I followed him because, well, that's what I _do_. Then Soundwave transformed and so Bee transformed to protect me, but then _Ravage_ came along, and that's when I got injured." I stated firmly, crossing my arms over my chest. I had to clear that up with them, so that there were no misgivings.

Everyone was silent for a moment, until Bee stated: "Uh, she left out the part about her outsmarting Ravage and getting rid of him for us."

The last Autobot, the tallest one of them all, spoke. "Is that true?" He asked me, bending down to be more at my eye level.

I didn't even have to look at him to recognise whose voice it was, and I looked up at him with a small smile. "Yes, I suppose it is…Optimus Prime."

He didn't seem surprised that I knew his name, and just seemed to regard me curiously.

In fact, they were _all_ looking at my curiously – especially Prowl – except for one.

Ratchet. He was glaring at Bumblebee, and I thought I knew why.

"_I specifically told you __not__ to let anything happen to her_!" He shouted, and the rest of us cringed. We certainly wouldn't want to be Bumblebee right now.

Bee looked hurt. "I'm sorry Doc-Bot, but I had a few other things I needed to be…"

"It's okay, Bumblebee, Ratchet," Optimus interrupted whatever Bumblebee had been about to say, which didn't impress the yellow bot one bit. But what Optimus had to say next _did_ impress him. "It's already healing itself."

Bumblebee snapped his gaze around to rest on me, and his optics formed two big circles. "_Oh_!" He exclaimed, sounding surprised.

Not sure I liked the sound of that 'oh', I dared to look at my shoulder.

What I saw made me yelp and move my head quickly away from my shoulder, wondering if I could disconnect it somehow.

My shoulder, the wound around it, was glowing _blue_, and the blood was disappearing, repairing my skin as we watched it with a mixture of fascination and horror.

The skin knitted itself back together under our startled gazes, before closing with a very audible _snap_, that made us all flinch.

The skin was now as smooth as it had been before, with only a very faint white scar on it.

"Okay, that was the freakiest thing I've ever seen." Bumblebee stated. "And I've seen _plenty_." He added, possibly referring to his adventures with the twins since the day we'd met. Come to think of it…

"_That's_ why I didn't want her getting injured." Ratchet said, crossing his arms as he closed his optics and shook his head.

"And I thought circuitry was bad." Was Bulkhead's input.

"It was actually rather impressive." Prowl stated carefully.

"Then _you_ be her guardian." Bulkhead replied.

"No!" Bumblebee snapped.

Optimus sighed, like he had a processor ache.

"Bumblebee," I said, in a calm voice, one that was _too_ calm. "_How_ did I do that?" I chose to address him because, like in all these things, he'd been the first one here.

The first to befriend the human.

Who, in this case, was yours truly.

Bumblebee, Prowl, Bulkhead, Ratchet and Optimus exchanged a five way glance, and then Optimus stepped forward to do the honours.

"Ella Lucidia Phila," He said, and I stiffened at my full name. Bumblebee noticed, and cautiously moved to my side. "Daughter of Ellaline," He added, and I gasped. He knew my mother's name?

"H-how do you know my mamma's name?" I asked him carefully, keeping my eyes trained on his brilliant blue optics.

Optimus and Ratchet exchanged a glance.

"Kid," Ratchet addressed Bumblebee, who was still beside me. "Does she know about it?"

"She knows what it is," Bumblebee replied instantly. "But she doesn't know she has it within her." He added.

Okay, this was just getting ridiculous. "Have _what_ inside of me, Bee!?" I exclaimed. Then, I looked at Optimus. "Optimus Prime, _tell_ me – _what_ in the name of the All-Spark is inside of me?"

I saw them all look at each other again, caught the nod that was exchanged between Optimus and Prowl.

"Ella," Optimus said slowly. "You _have_ the All-Spark within you."

His words seemed to echo inside of me, and my eyes opened wide.

The All-Spark.

The most powerful Cybertronian artefact.

Possibly the most powerful artefact in existence.

Inside of _me_.

The reason the war had escalated…the reason the Decepticons were now here on earth…was because of _me_. Or, at the very least, what was within me.

I gasped out loud, and the Autobots looked at me, startled. I felt Bumblebee's hand on my back, I realised I had started shaking.

I felt the blood drain from my face, and actually put a hand up to my lips, as if I could somehow swallow all the fear I suddenly felt I should have.

"The train…" I remembered. "And the scary car…oh Primus, what you guys are telling me is true."

I guess everything just caught up with me then – the impact of what had happened, the strangeness of the situation, and the lack of sleep all accounted for why I collapsed in a dead faint.

Which was alright, because a certain yellow bot caught me before I hit the ground.


	7. Memories

CHAPTER SEVEN

Memories

***

_Fifteen years ago…_

_A hazy memory, of a place she can't quite recall._

_There was someone else besides her and her mother there…she remembered a voice, one she liked hearing, and she cooed and reached out for the voice, but her mother's strong arms held her back._

_She looked up at her mother, into those big cobalt blue eyes, and tilted her head to one side, asking why not._

"_Because it's not safe," Her Mamma informed her, before passing her to another pair of arms, an even stronger set this time. "Mother, please take Ella inside."_

"_No, Ellaline, let me help you," And Ella was passed on __again__, this time to a female who wasn't quite like Ella's Mamma __or__ her Gran, but she was just as strong. At any rate, she took her inside, and Ella remembered falling asleep because, well, that's what babies do._

_***_

_Fourteen years ago…_

_A different place, a new place. The grass smelt sweet, and the colours were pretty._

_Ella remembered more of this, but she also remembered someone arguing._

_She was in the arms of the strong woman she trusted._

_Those who were arguing were close to her, and she trusted them too._

"…_can't trust…"_

"…_how did he manage to..?"_

"…_what should..?"_

"…_talk to…see what he says…"_

"…_wait until…comes home…"_

"…_yes, yes…he'll know…"_

_***_

_Thirteen years ago…_

"_Mamma?" Ella tried out the words for the first time._

_Ellaline gasped. "My darling Ella, you spoke…"_

"_She has actually spoken before this," Said the blue-eyed nurse from across the room._

"_What did she say?" Ellaline asked sharply, as Ella began to fall asleep again._

"_She asked where…was." The nurse replied carefully._

_Ellaline was furious. "Why did you not tell me!? I am her mother, should I not __know__ if…"_

"_For this very reason, I did not tell you."_

_***_

_Twelve years ago…_

"_Mamma, I don't think I'm like other kids." The little girl was lying on the operating table._

_Ellaline smiled sadly. "Why do you say that, Ella?"_

"_I'm just…different. And I can't say 'scween' or 'scweam' yet." She added, trying to pronounce 'screen' and 'scream'._

_Ellaline drew in a breath. "Maybe it's just as well…" She whispered._

_***_

_Eleven years ago…_

_A little girl with dark brown hair and shining hazel eyes let go of her mother's hand for the first time to make her shaky steps across the lawn towards the driveway, where the blue and white military vehicle was parked._

_A man jumped out of the vehicle and crossed the driveway to his daughter, picking her up and swinging her around in his arms._

"_Daddy!" The girl shouted happily. "You're home!" Even then she was perfectly articulated, never pronouncing her r's as w's, as some children might've. Except with this one word, but she had already forgotten why she couldn't say it or what it meant._

"_Yes Ella," The man said happily, as his beautiful, blue-eyed wife moved across the lawn to greet him. "I am."_

"_For how long, Daddy?" Little Ella asked him._

_His smile faded a little. "I don't know." He replied quietly, just as a pink and white car pulled into the driveway, and a beautiful young woman with strawberry blonde hair stepped out, and hurried up the driveway toward them, her face showing something that could have only been fear._

_***_

_Ten years ago…_

"_Mamma?" Little Ella was a little bit older now, but she was still small in comparison to most children her age. She tugged on the skirt of her mother's dress, as they stood on the front porch staring out at the rain. "When will Daddy be coming home again?"_

"_I'm not sure, Ella," Ellaline was tired all of a sudden, and her gentle blue eyes cast dark shadows across her face. "We have many affairs to set in order, now that Gran has passed on."_

"_Mamma," Ella asked in a quiet voice. "__Where__ did Gran go, exactly?"_

_Ellaline stopped down, and put her arms around her brave little girl. "To a place called the Well of All Sparks, my dear."_

"_Will you have to go there, one day?" Ella asked._

_Ellaline nodded, knowing that one day would come sooner than expected for her._

"_What about me?" Was Ella's next question. "Will __I__ have to do there?"_

"_Yes," Came the voice from the rain, and a weary old man walked steadily through the rain toward them. "One day you may go there, young one, but you must never be afraid."_

"_Grandpa!" Ella cried, and flung herself into the old man's arms, sobbing silent, blue tears._

"_There, there child." He said, stroking her hair gently._

"_Father," Ellaline asked, locking eyes with her grieving father. "Are you to return now?"_

"_I have to." He replied sadly, still holding the little girl in his arms._

_***_

_Nine years ago…_

"_Mamma doesn't leave the house very much anymore, Daddy." Ella said into the phone, ignoring all of the static that came through miles and miles of distance between them. "She seems tired, and not very strong."_

"_But you're having … good time with Aunty A …aren't you?" Her father's disembodied voice was full of static, but Ella understood the message perfectly._

"_Oh yes, she's the best," Ella said, smiling up at the blue eyes that sparkled for her. "She took me for a drive today." Ella added, running her hand through the strawberry blonde hair that she loved so much. How she wished her own hair could be that colour, it looked like spun gold in the sunlight. _

"_Lucky you!" Her father told her. "Remember to be…ood girl and do exactly…Aunty…ee tells you to do, okay?"_

"_Okay, but Daddy…"_

"_Icarus!" A voice rang loud and clear from her father's end of the line. "The enemy is…into the…line! They're tracking…!! He knows…where…is!!"_

_Ella dropped the phone like it was a hot potato, and ran from the kitchen, up the stairs and into the master bedroom._

_There, Ellaline lay on the bed, looking frail and weak for such a young woman._

"_Mamma!!" Ella cried, clambering up onto the bed, and burying her face in her mother's chest. "Mamma, they're coming! They're coming for me!"_

_Ellaline held her daughter close, and her eyes burned with more anger and fire than had been in them for almost a year. "Oh no he doesn't…not while I'm still online…"_

_***_

_Eight years ago…_

_Ella stood in the cemetery, her hazel eyes shining bright with tears, and a tiny black kitten with sapphire blue eyes cradled in her arms. Despite the kitten's size, it was nearly bigger then she was, and its ears were folded in a sign of plaintiveness. Icarus Phila was there, with his remaining arm around his daughter's shoulder._

_His eyes were moist with tears._

_When a sweet, sad voice filled the graveyard that sun-rainy afternoon, it could only be Ella's, and it was for all the universe to hear._

_***_

_Seven years ago…_

"_Ella," Icarus said quietly. It was a cold winter evening, and the fire was on. The cat, now named Saphira, was stretched out on the rug. Ella was colouring in a picture on the floor, working quietly, but she looked up when her father spoke to her._

"_Yes Daddy?" She asked, in her soft-spoken voice._

"_You must go to Big Nanna's for awhile, okay?" Icarus sounded tired. "I have some…affairs to set in order."_

"_I understand." Ella said simply, drawing a star in the middle of her picture. "Things are far from over, aren't they Daddy?"_

"_Yes, but Ella…you must try to forget everything that has happened up until now…"_

"_Huh?" Ella looked up at him, confused._

_Icarus sighed, and then smiled. "Never mind, Ella. Would you like some cocoa?" He added, standing up._

"_Okay!" Ella said, smiling. She had always loved cocoa. "And some for Saphira too?"_

_Icarus nodded. "Of course, some for Saphira too."_

_***_

_Six years ago…_

"_Hullo, who're you?" Asked the boy, who was ten years old like she was and looked like a real country-kid._

_Ella, holding onto her Big Nanna's hand, regarded him curiously. "My name is Ella," She said politely. "Who are you?"_

"_I'm Josh." The boy said cheerfully. "Hey, want my Pa to teach you how to ride horses?"_

_Ella's eyes lit up, and she let go of her Big Nanna's hand, slipping it instead into Josh's. "Yeah sure! Let's go!" She exclaimed. Saphira was already having fun chasing mice – so why shouldn't Ella have a little fun too? She pointed to a cream buckskin gelding. "I wanna ride __that__ one!" She added._

_Big Nanna smiled._

_***_

_Five years ago…_

"_Ella," Icarus said, smiling. "This is Fran Wiffen and her daughters, Sasha and Sandra."_

_Ella took one look at Fran, Sasha and Sandra, who were all just staring at her with politely disinterested looks, and said: "Hullo." Before looking up at her Father and asking if it was alright if she went back inside to play with Karr before Karr's mother arrived._

_Icarus sighed, and said yes._

_So Ella hurried back inside, and just in time to see a new TV show, called Transformers Animated…_

"_Bumblebee?" Ella repeated. "And Starscweam? I mean, Starscw…umm…"_

"_I like Blitzwing best." Karr said firmly. Even then she was a punk._

_Ella looked at her. "What?" She still couldn't say Starscream's name right. But she didn't know why._

_***_

_Four years ago…_

_This was the haziest memory of all…had Ella actually __been__ in Bali or not?_

_Why else would she remember holding her father's hand, as Fran cried noisily on the other side of him._

_Then Fran stared at Ella, because Icarus was speaking only to her, telling her he loved her…speaking only to Ella, and not to Fran._

_Then Ella began to cry, and Fran was screaming something._

_Ella was walking toward somewhere, and someone was there waiting for her._

_Why couldn't she see? Her vision was clouded with blood…_

_But her hand closed around something he handed her…a silver star on a necklace._

_It had her name on it, and it was carved with love…but who wrote it?_

_***_

_Three years ago…_

"_Why are you changing it all around, Fran?" Ella asked, which earned her a slap on the face, and a reprimand for not being polite._

"_Take it easy, Fran." Jass was there, with her cool, rock-like embrace, and her calm words, although she was glaring at Fran. "And what's this I hear about __roller skates__?"_

_Ella brightened. "I like rollerblading." She said._

"_She said roller __skating__, idiot." Sandra said snootily._

_Ella glanced out the front of the diner, to where the twins' new car was. It was a yellow Voltswagon beetle with a black racing stripe, and Ella had fallen in love with it the moment she'd seen it._

_But why did the twins need a car if they couldn't even drive yet?_

_***_

_Two years ago…_

"_IF I EVER HEAR YOU USE THAT TONE OF VOICE AGAIN YOUNG LADY, I WILL SEE TO IT THAT ALL OF THE THINGS YOU LOVE ARE DESTROYED, INCLUDING THAT BLOODY CAT!!!!" Fran screamed, and slapped Ella hard across the face while the twins watched._

_Sobbing silently, Ella scooped up a growling Saphira, and beat a hasty retreat to her new room in the attic._

"_Transformers," She sung softly to herself, and to Saphira, as she looked out the window at the night sky, and saw a shooting star. "Robots in disguise…Autobots are watching over you…" She glanced down at the twins' car, and was immediately put at ease, just seeing it parked out there in the driveway. "Bumblebee…"_

_***_

_One year ago…_

_Ella was walking down the street, when she looked up and saw a harrier jet. It streaked across the sky in a low fashion of flying and, for some reason, seeing it filled Ella's mind and heart with joy, but she didn't know why._

_And she never saw that jet again._

_***_

_Ella…who are you?_

_Ella…__what__ are you?_


	8. The Morning

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Morning

***

I awoke the next morning, feeling like my head was stuffed with cotton. I opened my eyes, and immediately wished I hadn't.

"Aurgh, the sun is _bright_." I groaned, and rolled over to face the other way.

Suddenly, the memories of last night came rushing back to me so fast I felt like I _had_ been hit by the train…by Astrotrain.

I opened my eyes wide. "Transformers are…_real_…" I said in awe. _Transformers are real…Transformers are real…Transformers are REAL…_

"Well what did you expect?"

I hadn't expected to hear Bumblebee's voice so early in the morning, and I sat bolt upright. I looked to my right.

The blonde-haired holoform of Bumblebee was leaning against my doorframe, not quite looking at me. But he was most definitely _there_.

"Bumblebee!" I gasped, and then I glanced down at myself. I was wearing my pyjamas! "Did you-who-how..!?" I struggled to pull the sheets up. I don't know why, it's just seemed like what I had to do.

Bumblebee guessed what I was trying to say. "No!" He exclaimed. His voice sounded wounded, and I immediately felt bad. But something still didn't add up.

"Then who..?"

Bumblebee's electric blue eyes drifted toward the rocking chair that still sits in the corner of my room and, for some reason, my gaze followed his in unison.

A red-haired girl I didn't recognise was sitting there, and I yelped.

She was wearing a short pink dress and tall white socks that would've looked terrible on me, but suited her perfectly. Her rose-red hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her nails were the exact same colour.

I stared at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," She said in a trilling voice I didn't recognise, but then she took her sunglasses off and looked at me with electric blue eyes. Oh, so she was an Autobot. But who? "My name is Rosanna…"

"Rosanna?" I recalled seeing her for one episode in season three…oh, right, she was the pink one. I think she'd also shown up in _Kiss Players_…but I knew her more from _Animated_! "Oh, right…"

"She's the one who…put you to bed when we brought you home last night," Bumblebee said awkwardly. He still wasn't looking at me. I think it was because of my summer nighty, which isn't exactly see-through but still…

"What…happened last night? After you brought me home, that is." I asked, glancing from Bumblebee to Rosanna.

Rosanna was the one that spoke. "Prime radioed me and told me what had happened. Bumblebee and Prowl brought you in, and we managed to sneak you past your step-family and into your room…"

"Whoa, wait, Fran knows I was out late!" I gasped, and then began panicking. "Does she know about the..!? What time did I..!? Is everyone else..!? We're not in any..!? Will I be in..!? Omigoshomigoshomigosh!!" I began hyperventilating, I was really worried about what might happen – and all because I had wanted to get my MP3 Player back! Fran was going to kill me!

Rosanna's and Bumblebee's eyes widened at the same time, and Rosanna got up off the rocking chair so fast you couldn't have timed it, and came over to where I was sitting. She put her hands on my shoulders and ordered: "Okay, calm down Ella, you need to calm down, okay?"

I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. I could see that I had worried her, and Bumblebee, although he was still leaning against the doorframe (which leads to a small alcove and a flight of stairs, by the way). "Okay." I said, nodding to myself.

"And," Bumblebee added, his eyes suddenly sparkling. "In answer to your questions – no, eleven-thirty, yes, no, and probably." He grinned at me.

I glared back, and threw a pillow at him. He caught it deftly in one hand, and just laughed.

Rosanna smiled and returned to her rocking chair, as Bumblebee returned to looking at anything but me.

I followed his gaze.

He was staring at a spot on the wall, the spot where my secret stash of things happens to be. He caught me looking at him, and smiled. I knew he knew.

And he also knew why, and Rosanna did too.

And speaking of which…

Bumblebee suddenly froze, and looked out the door. "Your wake-up call is here." He said, no trace of a smile left on his face, before he crossed the room swiftly and gracefully. He put the pillow back on my bed, patted me on the head, and then was out the window in a flash; I hadn't even noticed it was open.

I turned quickly to Rosanna to warn her to hide herself – I could hear someone ascending the stairs – but when I looked at the rocking chair…all that was there was my pink Nintendo DS.

Huh. I should've guessed.

Robots in Disguise. Of course.

Through my bedroom door came Fran. She looked livid, and I suddenly became fearful for my own safety.

"_Where WERE you last night_!?" She shrieked, before crossing the room (without Bumblebee's grace) and slapping me hard across the face. "_You left work EARLY, you ungrateful little BRAT_!" She grabbed me by the hair and yanked me out of bed, throwing me across the room.

I landed next to the rocking chair, and heard a very audible growl coming from the pink game console.

"Easy Rosanna," I whispered, standing up very quickly and then raising my voice slightly. "Did you call the police?" I was worried – if she had, then the Autobots ran a slight chance of being discovered.

Fran raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. "Why would I do a thing like that, you little bitch?" She asked me in a dangerous voice.

I was standing almost defensively in front of the rocking chair, hiding Rosanna from view, just in case. The star around my neck felt cold against my neck, and the left side of my face was stinging. Once again, I asked myself why my father had married Fran.

"I give you food, clothes and a school education," Fran said, crossing her arms in a way that made my skin tighten. "And _this_ is how you repay me? And what about your roller skates? They were _ruined_."

I didn't say anything, because if I opened my mouth then I would scream.

Fran didn't particularly like my silence, and she walked over to me, grabbed me by the arm and dragged me from the room, muttering something about breakfast.

I glanced quickly over my shoulder, at Rosanna sitting on my rocking chair, her holoform's face tightened with a mixture of rage and sympathy.


	9. They Come In Twos…

CHAPTER NINE

They Come In Twos…

***

Sasha and Sandra were on either side of me as I cleaned the breakfast dishes. They were badgering me with questions.

"Where were you last night?"

"Where did you go?"

"Who were you with?"

"Were you with a _boy_?"

I stiffened at the last one, which was a big mistake.

"_Mum_! She was with a _boy_!" The twins yelled in unison, and I dropped my sponge quickly.

Yikes. Time to make my escape. I sprinted upstairs, and got dressed in record time, spending the bare minimum of time on my teeth, and glad my hair wasn't any longer to warrant more then a few quick strokes with the brush.

I glanced at Rosanna, sitting very still on the rocking chair.

"You'd better hurry," She suggested, her blue eyes sweeping over the bruise on that I had seen forming on the side of my face already. I had – unsuccessfully – attempted to conceal it with some concealer. I just hoped nobody at school would notice it. "You are…" She paused, and then went on: "Running ten minutes late."

"And I haven't got my rollerblades today!" I gasped, and spun on my heel, running from my room. "By Rosa!" I called over my shoulder.

"Rosa?" I heard her mutter.

I was in the process of taking the stairs three at a time.

At the bottom of the stairs, Sasha was waiting for me.

"You'd better hurry," She advised me and, for a second, I thought she was talking about what Rosanna had been. But then she went on with: "Sandy's about to kill your cat."

_Saphira!_ I growled. "She'd better _not_!" And sprinted past my step-sister, toward the front door. I yanked said door open and ran outside, in time to see Sandra aim the hose at my beloved kitty, who was standing with her back arched on the hood of a shiny yellow Lamborghini.

"Saphira!" I yelled.

Saphira leapt off of the new car's hood just in time and straight into my arms, but the water came on anyway and hit the car, making the fancy alarm going off.

"Oi, enough with the water!" It said, in a voice that nearly made me drop my cat onto the concrete. And Sandra and I continued to stare at her new car – which seemed a highly offensive word for such a gorgeous piece of machinery – until Sasha came outside with her school things and reminded us both that it was time to go to school.

"I'll get my car." She said.

"Wait, _you_ got a new car too?" I asked her in a shocked voice.

She glanced at me. "Yeah?"

"Show me."

Sasha pointed toward the driveway, and I turned and looked.

A red Lamborghini. "Of course." I said out loud, smiling weakly. "Lamborghinis always come in pairs…soooo…" I went on casually, glancing from Sasha to Sandra. "Who can I ride to school with?"

The twins exchanged a glance.

I reckon, if they could've, then Sunstreaker and Sideswipe would've as well. As it is, they both subtly unlocked their doors at the same time, as if posing the question.

I almost smiled.

***

"If I'm going to walk to school," I thought, turning left onto another street. "Then I might as well see if Karr is running late too, which I doubt she is." The Autobots hadn't said anything about _not_ telling Karr about the happenings of last night. And Karr _was_ my best friend forever, so it was only natural that I should tell her.

Besides, she'd kill me if I kept this from her.

My heart rate picked up as I approached the street that Karr lives on, but not in excitement at the prospect of seeing my best friend.

Because three cop cars were parked out the front of the Souls' house and, as I approached it, picking up my pace as I did, the front door opened and Karr's mum walked out of the house.

As soon as she saw me, she burst into tears.

I began to run toward her.


	10. Present

CHAPTER TEN

Present

***

"Mrs. S, what _happened_!?" I cried, as she caught me in her arms and began to sob. "Mrs. S?" I asked, my voice muffled by her shoulder (she's only slightly taller than me – all of the Souls are short). "Did something happen to Karr?"

A policeman I didn't recognise came to the front door then, and asked: "Mrs. Souls, is this the only recent picture you have of your daughter?" He held up a framed photograph of Karr, taken only a few months ago of the two of us at the Disturbed concert (we won the tickets through a contest of some sort). The picture had been taken both of us sort of by surprise, so neither of us looked very good in it. I cringed.

Mrs. Souls nodded, and let me go. She said: "Yes officer. Kara…doesn't like having her picture taken." She admitted, sniffling a little and reaching into her pocket for a tissue.

That was true. I remembered how Karr had attacked the photographer after the picture had been taken.

"Please, find my daughter!" Mrs. Souls burst into tears again.

I gasped. "Karr's missing!?" My best friend!?

"Not just missing," Said a familiar voice, and Faren Zanders walked out of the living room, with a clipboard in his hand. "_Kidnapped_." I gasped. He nodded when he saw me. "Somehow, I'm not surprised you're involved." He told me, but I was too stunned to ask what that meant.

"Neither am I," Said a smooth voice from behind me, and I turned to see Bard Arice standing behind me, wearing the same thing he had been wearing the other night. He was looking to somewhere past me, maybe at the doorbell?

"Bout' time you got here," Faren mumbled. "Care to explain where you've been, Bard?"

"There was a four-eighty-two on the Kwinana Freeway," Bard said smoothly, finally turning his head to look at Faren, who just rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, a red Holden Commodore came screaming down the street. It was Karr's father's car. We all watched as it swung into the driveway, and hit the black and white Saleen Mustang police car parked there.

I'm sure my mouth dropped open. Everyone else's did, but for a different reason.

Bard flinched back like _he'd_ been hit, and his sunglasses slipped down a little.

I glanced at him quickly, and I saw his eyes – they were blood red.

A Decepticon!

Suddenly, the pieces fell into place – the way he acted, stuttering when he called the yellow bug a car, and his name. Unscramble the letters in Bard Arice and you got…

"Barricade." I whispered, fear gripping me like an iron-clad fist.

His holoform turned to me with a small, knowing smile, and I began backing up.

"I-I'm late for school," I mumbled, backing down the driveway and nearly backing into Karr's dad, who was charging toward the house. "Please find Karr." I added quickly, before I turned and ran straight across the lawn, toward the road. I didn't know how I was going to get to school before Barricade got to me. And I'd seen from the movie just how dangerous he could be – I wasn't going to hang around to find out if he was the same (or worse) in real life!

Suddenly, the sound of a motorcycle engine could be heard, and I looked across the road to see a familiar black police motorcycle pulled up to the curb. Astride it was an olive-skinned black-haired male wearing dark sunglasses and a black leather jacket and jeans.

I have never been so incredibly relieved to see someone.

"Prowl!" I gasped, running over to him, and his holoform turned to look at me.

"Hop on." He said, extending a hand to me, which I looked doubtfully at. I've never ridden on a motorcycle before, and I was wearing a dress. Plus, this was _Prowl_ – although I can't for the life of me say what _that_ had to do with anything.

Prowl revved his engine impatiently. "Ella!"

I made my decision then, and grabbed the hand of his holoform. Suddenly, I found myself sitting behind said holoform, as the scenery flashed by me.

"Yikes!" I exclaimed, and grabbed onto the holoform's waist before I could think it through more carefully.

I only realised what I was doing when Prowl said, sceptically: "Are you okay?"

I blushed, realising I may have been holding on a bit too tightly. "Umm, fine. Just…fine…" I said, releasing my hold just a little bit, but still not all the way, because we were going very fast. But I still realised where we were headed. "Hey, Prowl, where are..?"

"I'm taking you to school," Prowl assured me, weaving his way through traffic. "But we're going to have to evade Barricade first. And we're picking someone up first."

"Who?" I asked, but I got my answer when, as we pulled onto another street, a smaller one, I caught sight of a short, dark-haired girl waiting for us on the side of the road.

She was wearing a dark blue dress with a white belt, and black ankle boots, and she was holding her thumb out as if hitchhiking, but there was something _about_ her…

As we got closer to her, I could see that she had short spiky black hair, and she would've reminded me of Alice Cullen – had her eyes not been the same brilliant blue as any other Autobots.

"Chromia?" I guessed, and it really was a wild guess because she was as unfamiliar to me in holoform as Rosanna was.

"Yes." Prowl replied, as Chromia grabbed onto his holoform's extended hand as we passed her, and then she seemingly vanished.

Prowl held the same hand out to me as we turned onto a busier street and, curious, I took what was in the palm of it.

A deep blue MP3 Player with silver edges, and matching silver headphones. The Autobot symbol was emblazoned in silver in the corner, near the screen.

"Ah, Prowl..?"

"To replace the one that tried to take over the world?" He suggested, and I bit back a laugh at the irony of that.

But, I felt like I had to correct him on something. "Uh, he tried to _kill _me!" I informed him.

Prowl was silent for a moment and then, in a voice so soft you could hardly hear him, he said: "No, he'd never try anything like that."

"You wanna tell me why not?" I asked him.

"We're here." Was all Prowl would reply, as he pulled up out front of St. Josie's.

"That's _not_ an answer!" I snapped, refusing to move.

"After school Ella." Prowl promised me. "And, don't worry about Barricade," He added, in a slightly darker tone. "We'll take care of him."

Despite the bright sun, and myself, I shuddered, the full impact of his words setting in.


	11. Annoyed

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Annoyed

***

One thing Prowl and I hadn't counted on was everyone seeing me get off a motorbike and walk into the school like I was walking on clouds. I mean, it's not everyday this sort of thing happens, right?

I walked into the classroom where my first lesson was.

Everyone stared at me.

Then someone, I'm not sure who, said loudly: "Where's the motorcycle jacket?"

What…?

I blinked, and then everyone started talking at once. And I just stood there, until the teacher came in, and told everyone to shut up and settle down.

We did.

But I hadn't heard the last of this.

(Oh, by the way Chromia, who was my new MP3 Player, knew all my favourite songs. Who knew?).

***

At lunch time, I bought nachos – yay! And a mocha, but that was nothing new.

I sat down behind the library to eat.

"Is the coast clear?"

That was Chromia. I had kinda forgotten she was there, until she had spoken up. She'd been pretty quiet all morning, sitting in my locket, learning about WWII.

"Huh?" I looked around. "Oh…yeah, I guess so…" I looked away and, when I looked back, Chromia's spunky-looking holoform was sitting next to me.

"Are you okay?" She asked me.

I knew what she was talking about, and I took a long swig of mocha before I answered. I sighed. "Karr and I have been best friends for years…naturally, I'm worried about her."

Chromia nodded. "And what about this morning? With the Decepticon Barricade?"

I lowered my eyes. "I'd…rather not talk about that…" I didn't say why. I actually didn't _know_ why, and I was more worried about my friend. I didn't _want_ Karr out there with Decepticons out there! What if they…found her? And found out that she and I were friends?

That could spell BIG trouble for her…

I flinched.

Chromia went to say something, but then she stopped.

She and I both looked up, and saw the shadows of two someones walking around the corner.

There was a clatter, and the blue MP3 Player fell to the grass beside me.

Not a moment too soon, because my step-sisters came around the corner.

Sasha and Sandra stood in front of me, arms crossed, and faced glaring.

I eyed them back nervously.

Sandra spoke first: "Why did you arrive on a motorcycle this morning?"

My jaw hardened. I was sick of being walked on by these two. "Because you two wouldn't give me a ride."

"Who was that guy?" Sasha wanted to know.

I shrugged. "Just a friend." I said simply.

"A _friend_?" The twins said in unison.

I gritted my teeth. "_Yes_, he is a _friend_." I said slowly.

"Does Mum know about this?" Sandra wanted to know.

"What do _you_ think?" I snapped. I was sick of these two and their questions.

"I think you're in _trouble_." Sasha said in a sing-song-voice, and I sighed. Good Primus, these two were driving me insane.

Suddenly, Sandra glanced down to the grass. "What's that?" She asked, and grabbed it before I could. She held up Chromia, the MP3 Player.

"Hey, give it back!" I exclaimed, reaching for her. "It was a gift!"

"He's giving you _presents_!" Sasha exclaimed, although it was more like a wail.

"_Yes_, now give it back!" I tried to reach for it, but Sandra is taller than me.

She put the MP3 Player headphones in her ears, and I wondered vaguely which part of her the earphones were…or if she had a pet, like Soundwave did. It didn't matter.

Because as soon as Sandra put the earphones in her ears, she screamed, and an electrical buzz went straight through her ears.

Of course, she ripped the earphones out, and threw them.

They headed toward the pond.

"_Okay_!" I yelled, for the second time that week, and ran. My hand was outstretched, and Chromia fell into it. I sighed.

I also heard a familiar car horn, from somewhere in the student car park.

"Thank you," Chromia whispered to me. Then she went on: "Umm…Ella?"

"I know." I said, before I fell into the pond.

***

I had pulled myself out of the pond, and was running across the grass with Chromia in my hand.

"ELLA!!" I heard Bumblebee yell, and saw him in the car park, near to where the Lamborghini twins were parked.

"Bumblebee!?" I cried, running toward him. I reached for the door handle, and yanked it open. The panic in his voice panicked me.

"Calm down Bumblebee, you're scaring her." Sideswipe scolded.

I sat down and put my seatbelt on. "What happened?"

"No time to explain," Bumblebee said. "But Prime ordered you two to stay here!" He added to the Lambo twins, who grumbled in response as Bumblebee drove out of the car park.

I heard the sirens then, and didn't even need to ask what was going on, as _Pretty Handsome Awkward_ came on over Bee's radio.

"Oh God…" I whispered.


	12. Pretty Handsome Awkward

CHAPTER TWELVE

Pretty Handsome Awkward

***

"Barricade." I whispered the name for the second time that day, and it did nothing to quell the fear that was rising up inside of me.

If Bumblebee could've, he would've nodded grimly. But he hadn't even bothered to project his holoform, as we sped through the streets toward Midland. I didn't ask why we were going there – I felt it was better not to ask.

Besides, I could see Barricade in the wing mirror, and sensible conversation failed me. Seeing the police car who really wasn't a police car had always done that to me.

I yelled: "GO GO GO!!" Because Barricade was gaining. And because my life was already so much like a movie.

The chase took us through Midland, and Barricade stayed on our tail, lights flashing, the whole time.

"God, he's persistent." Commented Bumblebee at one stage.

"_Just drive_!" I exclaimed.

Chromia suddenly spoke up – she'd been pretty quiet, sitting in my pocket, but now she said: "I sense Barricade has someone with him."

"Organic or techno?" Bumblebee asked immediately, just as I was wondering the exact same thing.

"Techno," Chromia replied. "I think he brought Frenzy."

Bumblebee and I groaned in unison. "Oh, _terrific_." I added. I had never really liked the small, blue-eyed hyperactive Decepticon who gave a bad name to coffee-lovers everywhere. If he was with Barricade, I wasn't going to be happy.

"Okay you two," Bumblebee said suddenly, driving toward a power plant that looked _exactly_ like the one in the 07' movie. "Time to get out now."

"_What_!?" Chromia and I yelled in unison, as Bumblebee swerved, and I fell out, and Chromia fell out of my pocket. We both landed on the hard ground, as Bumblebee transformed.

_And now Barricade will approach, increase speed, transform, and crash-tackle Bee._ I thought wryly, and watched the scene play out _exactly_ as I'd thought it would.

There was a tremendous crash when it happened, and Chromia transformed too, to protect me from Frenzy who appeared from Barricade, and attacked us.

Chromia was smaller than I'd thought she would be, and I had no idea why. She was dark blue, and silver, and equally matched to Frenzy.

"GIVE-ME-THE-ALL-SPARK!!!" Frenzy yelled, as he battled Chromia.

"Go to hell, Decepticon!" Chromia shouted, throwing Frenzy against a wall.

I was torn between who to watch – Chromia battle Frenzy, or Bumblebee battle Barricade.

My decision was made when Frenzy somehow managed to break free of Chromia, and lunged at my throat.

"ALLSPARK!!!!" He shouted.

I yelped, and struck out with my hand, which connected with Frenzy's chest and slammed him into a wall.

"Ow!!" I yelled, cradling my hand to my chest. I didn't think it was broken – but it hurt like hell, the armour of a Transformer was bloody HARD!!

And suddenly Chromia was there, she grabbed Frenzy by his neck, and slammed him into the wall again, and then into the one next to it, issuing her own wall-to-wall counselling and Frenzy yelled at her in words I couldn't understand, and probably didn't _want_ to.

"If I could just get to his slagging SPARK!!" She shouted.

I looked around wildly, and then jumped to the side just in time to avoid being hit by a piece of what looked like Barricade's armour – yikes.

But it was just what we needed. I picked it up with my left hand, and tossed it to Chromia, who caught it deftly and then plunged it straight into Frenzy's spark.

"Oh shit." He said, as he died.

I was thinking just the same thing, I wish I hadn't watched. It had been different with Ravage, because no one had killed him _directly_…or had I?

And I'd handed the killing implement to Chromia. Did that make me accountable for Frenzy's death too?

I began to shake, and I couldn't stop.

My hand felt like I'd punched a brick wall, although the sensation was different. It still hurt a lot, though, and that's why Chromia thought I was crying.

"Are you okay?" She asked me, stepping away from Frenzy and resuming her holoform. I was shaking, and couldn't reply. "Okay, hang on…" She paused, with her arms around me, and listened. "It sounds like the battle's over. Let's go find Bumblebee."

I sighed. "O-okay…"

I thought I heard her say: "Not dead yet."

"Pardon?" I tilted my head to one side.

"I said let's go." She replied, glancing at me. She was still listening to something I couldn't hear. I must've misheard her.

"Okay," I said again, and allowed her to lead me away.

When Bee saw my hand was injured, he was a cross between furious and proud.

But he was also scared.

We had to go see Ratchet.


	13. My Hand Hurts – A Lot

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

My Hand Hurts – A Lot

***

"Are you okay?" Bumblebee asked worriedly.

I knew he was worried because he had asked me that six times already, and each time I'd nodded wordlessly. Chromia wasn't saying much. Every so often, she would mutter: "Okay," Or: "Yes." I figured she was talking over her com-link to the other Autobots. But Bumblebee kept distracting me, like he was trying to make me feel better. It was awfully sweet of him.

Eventually I stopped sniffling, and began fiddling with the radio (with my good hand). I found a station that I liked, with a song that I like even more, and began to sing.

"_Kore kara minna de mechakucha odotte sawago sawago_…" (Translation: "From here on, everybody's gonna be dancing a little fucked up... make some noise, make some noise!").

"Oh no," Bumblebee groaned. "Not _this_ song…"

Chromia began singing along with me: "_Headbanger.. hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me_…"

Bumblebee switched his radio off, but he'd forgotten about Chromia, and we listened to the entire of _Get Ur Freak On_, by Missy Eliot.

Bee is _not_ a fan M.E. Or maybe he was just worried about facing Ratchet.

We arrived at the meadow where we'd been yesterday, and I have to admit I was surprised that the Autobots had been able to construct a base in such a short amount of time, although I'd seen G1 before.

Optimus met us outside of the base, and looked like he wanted to kill Bumblebee and possibly Chromia when I stepped out with my hand cradled against my chest.

"It was my fault," I said quickly, as Bumblebee transformed behind me. "I punched Frenzy in the face." _And then we killed him_. I added silently in my mind.

Optimus optics nearly bugged out of his head. "Y-you did _what_!?"

I nodded silently. Optimus seemed to consider that, and then muttered: "That's amazing…"

_Not really_. I thought, but I kept that to myself. Let them think I was some big hero.

"So what happened to Barricade?" Optimus asked Bumblebee then.

"Offlined." Bumblebee replied, looking proud of himself.

"Well done Bumblebee." Optimus said, and then turned back to me. "Ella, it was very brave of you to help Chromia take on Frenzy," He seemed to have come to that conclusion by himself, or else Chromia had com-linked him. "Come on, let's go and tell the others and get Ratchet to take a look at your hand." Bumblebee's optics opened wide, but he couldn't say anything.

I sighed. I would have to inform everyone how brave Bee had been.

"I think her hand's broken." Chromia added quietly, but not quietly enough.

Ratchet came storming out of the base, looking murderous, and when he saw my hand, my tear-streaked face (I hadn't even bothered to dry it) and the dirt all over my uniform, and began yelling a stream of things in what I gathered was more curses in Cybertronian.

Then he began throwing heavy objects at Bee and Chromia. Optimus grabbed me and rushed me out of harm's way, as Prowl and Bulkhead came out of the base to see what was going on and the heavy objects kept flying.

"I just got a transmission from the Decepticons," Prowl said, and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him. "They seem to have come to us with…a negotiation…"

We all looked at him suspiciously. "What _kind_ of negotiation?" I asked.

Prowl said: "I don't know…the transmission cut out before I could…"

"OW!! OH MY PRIMUS, **OW**!!!!" I suddenly screamed, because I'd moved my hand wrong and discovered, to my horror, that it _was_ broken. "MY HAND _IS_ BROKEN!! OWWWWW!!!!" I moaned, because _now_ it really _did_ hurt.

CLUNK!! Ratchet threw a metal box at Bee, and Bee was knocked out.

"Bloody young irresponsible bot…" Ratchet mumbled, as we all stared at where Bee was lying in a daze. We were shocked.

Bulkhead recovered first. "Is he…gonna be okay?"

"Bee's a hero, you know," I informed them, as I allowed myself to be passed over to Ratchet. "He took on _Barricade_, who was, like, a _katrillion_ times bigger than Bee…"

"I AM _NOT_ SHORT!!" Bee yelled in his stasis.

"He's fine." Chromia said, at the same time that Prowl suggested: "Let's just leave him there."

So we did.


	14. Explanations

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Explanations

***

"The twins aren't happy about being left behind." Bee said, as he drove me and Chromia home that evening.

"I don't think Ella's very happy either, Bumblebee." Chromia spoke up, as if I wasn't there.

"I feel like a slagging _mummy_." I complained, scrunching down in my seat, and resting my chin on the seatbelt. My hand was done up in a bandage – I'd said no to a cast – and I had a sling around my neck to ensure that I wouldn't use my hand, otherwise it would damage it even more. I couldn't complain, because Ratchet and I had argued for fifteen minutes over the cast, and I didn't want to give him any reason to give me more plaster. I had to admit though – Ratchet was a better doctor than I'd hoped he would be. He was fair, gentle and – when he was treating a patient – very kind, but there was no way I was gonna say that to his face. I'd just thanked him and walked outside, tapping Bee and telling him it was time to go home. He'd gotten up immediately and transformed, opening the door for me and playing the first lines of _This Is How A Heart Breaks_ by Rob Thomas on his radio. "_Don't you wanna go for a ride? Just keep your hands inside, and make the most out of life and don't you take it for granted_…"

I watched the famous face-palm of Prowl, and listened as Ratchet gave Bee some advice that was more like warnings. Stuff like 'don't speed' and 'take your corners sharp and I'll weld your aft to a toaster-oven'.

We'd left soon after that.

And now we were pulling around the corner to our street, and I thought I'd better get out and walk the rest of the way, because I didn't want my step-family to see me dropped off in the old car that was supposed to still be at large.

Bee wouldn't hear of it. "No way, you're not walking all that way by yourself."

We were, like, three houses away from our own.

I frowned. "I'll have Chromia with me." I said, starting to get out and Bee had no choice but to stop.

But, he insisted on walking with us in his holoform, which was fine with me, and the three of us made our way up to the house in peaceful silence, which was broken only by Sunstreaker saying: "_Finally_!"

He and Sideswipe were parked in the driveway, and if he could've, the yellow Lamborghini would've been glaring at us.

"Why the slag did _Bumblebee_ get to have some fun with the Decepticons this afternoon, and we were stuck driving the glitches home from school?" Sunstreaker complained. "I'll bet the little copy cat couldn't even take out _Frenzy_." He was referring to his and Bee's similar paint jobs.

I decided to have a little dig at him. I liked Sunstreaker and all, but I had been waiting a very long time to take the Mickey out of him. "Actually, _Chromia_ took out Frenzy."

"Is that how you injured your hand?" Sideswipe wanted to know. I could tell that Optimus hadn't told them what had happened yet, probably for this very reason. Bee was smiling now, knowing what was coming.

I nodded. "Yes."

Sunstreaker snickered. "And where was _Bumblebee_ whilst all of this was happening?" He asked me, Bee and Chromia.

"Offlining Barricade." The three of us replied in unison.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were speechless, as me and Chromia started laughing, and Bee looked very smug indeed.

Suddenly, the porch light flickered on.

"Oh my Primus!" I exclaimed and, without thinking, shoved Bee into the trees.

"I'll be upstairs." Bee whispered to me, as I hurried to the front door to find Fran waiting for me.

"_Where have you been_!?" She thundered, as I stood timidly on the second step, glad I had Chromia with me and aware of the Lambo twins watching me.

"I…"

"_I get a call from your teacher today saying you skipped school, you failed to show up for work which means that __**I**__ had to fill in for you_," Fran refused to listen to me as I tried to plead my case. "_And I find your work uniform in __**this**__ condition_!!" She said, holding up my work uniform, which was in pieces and _had_ been under my bed (where no one, least of all Fran, is supposed to be looking). She threw the uniform at me, and then when I caught it she saw the state my _school_ uniform was in. She yelled: "_And just look at __**this**_!!" I could see my step-sisters peeking around the doorway to the living room, obviously hoping to see some fireworks. Their mother did not disappoint. As I crept forward, Fran lunged out, and grabbed me by the hand – by my broken hand, that is. Of course.

I couldn't allow myself to scream though, for fear that the Autobots would hear and retaliate.

This was my plan, until Fran twisted my wrist around, and I heard something crack. A new break?

In my pocket, Chromia growled softly and angrily.

Then Fran pushed my hand down, and I couldn't help it – I screamed.

I stopped screaming almost immediately, though, not because of what Bee and the girls might do (to say _nothing_ of the Lambo twins), but because Fran slapped me across the mouth.

In my pocket, Chromia was having an impossible time keeping herself there. She told me so later.

I leaned against the wall in the hallway where a beautiful framed picture of my mother, my father, me and Saphira used to hang. Now a picture of Fran and my father on their wedding day hangs there, with Sasha and Sandra as the flower girls and me. Just like in a movie, Fran has dropped her bouquet, and I've bent to pick it up and the photographer took the picture and Fran said that one was enough. What's more, the thorns on the roses in her bouquet pricked me.

I leaned there, and I refused to cry. Tears gathered in my eyes though as I stared at Fran's angry face, and I asked myself for the sixteen millionth time _why did Daddy choose to marry __**her**_?

Blood dripped from my mouth, and I wiped it away with my good hand – I couldn't even move the other one. The chorus of _Façade_, by Disturbed, was playing over and over in my mind, and finally I understood what such a thing meant. I mean more so than I ever had before.

"Go upstairs, you useless little bitch." Fran snapped, and slammed the door shut.

As I headed for the stairs, I thought I heard the double shifting of metal and a dull crash, and I wondered vaguely which Lambo twin was stopping his brother from attacking the house. Or even if they were stopping each other from doing so.

Upstairs, I found a similar story.

***

"No Bumblebee!" Rosanna had her arms around to blonde's holoform from the back, and was restraining him from charging downstairs and killing my step-mother.

"Let them live, for Primus' sake Bee!" A female I didn't recognise, but she had electric blue eyes, had Bee held by his left arm. She had blueish-green hair and was slightly short (about Chromia's height) and stockier than the average Autobot holoform. She wore a blue dress and gold leggings underneath that, with black ballet flats.

"They're not worth it!" Another female I didn't recognise, except for her electric blue eyes, had Bee's other arm. She had orangey red hair, and was wearing an orange t-shirt and red three-quarter-length pants. Her shoes were brown sandals. She was wearing one of those brown aviation helmets on her head. Everything about her screamed _fire_.

"Rosanna, Glyph, Flareup, _let me go_!!" Bee cried. "_I'm going to slagging __**murder**__ that glitch Fran_!!"

All four of them stopped short when I appeared in the doorway. There was five seconds of absolute silence, and then Bee broke free of the three fems holding him and lunged forward to go downstairs and begin killing Fran. But Chromia leapt out of my pocket, assuming her holoform as she did, and met Bee in mid tackle. She soon had him pinned to the ground, and managed to do all of this silently.

I wiped away another trail of blood from my mouth (I had no idea where the bleeding was coming from) and muttered: "I guess you saw that, huh?" Tears threatened even more now – my hand was _killing_ me. And I hated having to share this part of my life with them, although I guessed Bee and Rosanna were used to it.

Rosanna was the first to recover, and hurried over to me, guiding me over to my bed and making me sit down. "I _told_ Bumblebee he shouldn't have been watching, but look at you, you're a mess." She handed me a tissue.

"Thanks." I muttered. I held the tissue to my mouth with my good hand. My other hand was cradled in my lap, the sling all messed up.

The other red-haired fem came over and fixed it up for me.

"Thanks." I said. I was getting a lot of mileage out of that word today.

"This is Flareup, by the way." Chromia introduced the unfamiliar fem to me. "She showed up to…help. She turns into a mobile phone." I nodded. I had always needed a mobile phone.

"And I'm Glyph," The stockier fem introduced herself. "I turn into a lap top computer. I already did your maths homework for you." She added, pointing to a pile of papers on the pillow.

"Thanks." (See, what did I tell you?).

Chromia, finally convinced that Bee had calmed down, let him up, and came over and sat beside me. "Ella, _why_ do you put up with that? You don't have to, you know." She added.

I shook my head. I couldn't explain it, even to her.

I saw Bee and Rosanna exchange a glance. They were the only ones who had ever seen Fran in action before.

Then, I realised that, despite the pain of my hand, I had an even _bigger_ pains – hunger ones.

I groaned. I hadn't gotten to finish my lunch today.

"What?" The four fems asked in unison.

I blinked. Then I shook my head, and gave a small smile from behind my tissue. "Nothing, just…I could _really_ go for some KFC right now…"

Bee, who hadn't said anything yet, suddenly got up off the floor and headed for the window. "I'll go." He said, disappearing quickly from view. He didn't even spare me a second glance.

I looked at Rosanna.

"He doesn't like to see you injured." She said quietly. "It affects him more than you could ever know."

I didn't know what to say to that, possibly because I didn't understand it. Except that I might've felt the same way if I'd seen Bee get injured.

I went to bed that night, feeling sort of confused.

(Oh, by the way, Bee brought me back chips, a large potatoes and gravy, two chicken drumsticks and a Popcorn Chicken© – because he knows what I like).


	15. Midnight Run

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Midnight Run

***

_I was having the weirdest dream…not at all like the dream I'd had the other night._

_In it, I was standing by a wall in a dimly lit room, and the room was huge, as if to accommodate many, many people…or a very tall someone._

_Someone was standing across from me and, I realised, to my relief: "Karr!"_

_She shook her head, no trace of a smile on her face._

_I was confused. Why wasn't she happy to see me? "K-Karr?" I tried again, trying to take a tentative step toward her, but finding that I couldn't, because I was chained to the wall. The heavy iron shackles felt cold against my skin and, as I watched, Karr's face broke into a huge grin._

"_It's okay Ella," She said, with a strange cheerfulness. "They're going to come soon, and you'll be where you belong – just like I am…"_

"_Belong with who!?" I cried, all calm gone from my voice and actions, as I tried to break free of the chains which were holding me against the wall. I was scared now – this still wasn't like her. "Karr, what's going on!? Bee!?" I yelled, looking all around me, but I could only see glowing red optics, the ones that belonged to out enemies. There was very little comfort from that, and I craved the blue ones. "Bee, where are you!?" Especially his._

"_Forget Bumblebee," Karr said, sharply. "You belong with __us__, Ellie…" And she jumped back, flipping over backwards to land on the shoulder of one of the red-eyed ones. "Embrace your inner-Decepticon." She laughed._

"_I don't know how!! I can't!!" I screamed, and my screaming woke me up._

***

But, it may have actually been the ringing of my new mobile phone, aka Flareup.

My left hand reached over and struggled to find the phone, which was in stasis on my bedside table. I found it, and slid it open. "H-helk?" I mumbled, still half asleep. I hadn't even opened my eyes. I hated Flareup's ring-tone, maybe even more then I hated Rosanna's alarm. I would have to ask them both if they could change them. "I mean, hello?"

"Ella?"

My eyes snapped open, and I sat bolt upright, startling both Saphira and Rosanna, who were resting at the foot of my bed. "Karr!?" I exclaimed. "Karr, is that you!?"

"Ella, you've got to come now!" Karr cried urgently, and I could hear the wind blowing in the background.

"Where are you Karr!? It sounds windy there!"

"The DNA Tower, in Kings Park!" She said quickly, and I thought I could hear voices in the background. "Ella, you've got to come _now_!" She cried, and then the line went dead.

I sat there, staring at the mobile phone that was Flareup, in my hand. I sat there for five seconds exactly.

And then I sprung into action.

***

Five minutes later, Bee was speeding along the freeway toward the city. I was in the passenger seat, with Rosanna, who had helped me change from my pyjamas into a white dress, which was all we could do in such a short amount of time with my hand so broken.

Glyph and Flareup had stayed behind to trace the call and do some more research on it, and Chromia was pretending to be me – she had altered her holoform just enough to resemble me, and _that_ was scary.

But not as scary as what was going on. "Karr's in danger, I just know it!" I exclaimed, and told Bee about my dream.

He was silent, as the city came into view, and we passed a Mandurah-bound train (_not_ Astrotrain).

"Bee…" Rosanna said quietly, and I remembered what she had said earlier, about Bee hating to see me hurt.

"Ella, I will protect you." Bee said unexpectedly, as we pulled off of the freeway and sped toward Kings Park.

"But who's gonna protect Karr?" I asked worriedly.

Neither of them could answer that, as the DNA Tower loomed nearer.

As Bee approached, I could see a lone figure standing at the foot of the tower.

It was Karr.

"_Karr_!" I yelled, and got out before Bee even stopped. Ignoring my stinging hand, and the sounds of the two Autobots transforming behind me, I sprinted toward my best friend.

I reached her, and threw my good arm around her, but it was like hugging a rock, and I drew back sharply, to see her just staring at me.

Suddenly, through Bee's open-com-link, I heard Glyph shouting: "IT'S A TRAP!!"

I gasped, and stared at Karr, as the Decepticons came out of hiding. "Karr…what have they done to you?"

"Nothing, Ellie," She said softly. "I _chose_ this…you should too…" And then my world went black.


	16. I'd Come For You

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I'd Come For You

***

I woke up, to find myself in a large, dimly lit room…

"Oh no…" I said out loud, as Karr and the Decepticons moved toward me. I was chained to the wall, and I wasn't liking this _one little bit_. It was just like in my dream.

I struggled against my chains, as I looked around at the Decepticons who had turned my best friend against me.

There was Astrotrain, and Soundwave was there too, with Laserbeak. I noticed, with shock, that Ravage was next to Soundwave, looking well and fully intact! I gasped out loud, but that was _nothing_ compared to the shock I felt when I saw Barricade and Frenzy!

"B-but how can this be!?" I stammered, staring straight at them. "I…_we_, killed you!"

Barricade chuckled. "Things can change, Ella. We Decepticons do not stay down so easily."

That wasn't good news. I kept on looking around. I recognised every single red-eyed face I saw. Brawl, Blackout, Sideways and Scorponok from the live-action movies. Blackarachnia, Lockdown (why was _he_ here?) and Lugnut from Animated.

I looked around. "Where's Blitzwing?" I asked, and then looked at Karr. "Hey, does this mean that Shockwave is posing as Long-Arm Prime on Cybertron as we speak!?"

Karr grinned suddenly, as the tri-polar German-accented triple-changer known as Blitzwing came over to her, and picked her up, much to my surprise. He had on his crazy-face, as he said: "Ooh, Karr, you vere _serious_ vhen you said your best friend knew _everyzing_ about us!"

Karr laughed along with him. "That's right Blitzy – everyone, this is Ella, a Transformers expert!"

"We've met." Soundwave said flatly, and Ravage came up to me. He growled.

I gulped. "N-nice k-kitty…hey, that whole trying to kill you thing…purely self-defence!" I was scared – but not for one moment did I think they were going to destroy me, not yet anyway. I glanced around again. "Umm…where's Starscream?" I found myself wishing he was here, but I can't for the life of me ever say _why_…

Everyone was silent for a moment, and then a deep, cold voice said: "Starscream couldn't be here," And the evil and ruthless Decepticon leader, Megatron, stepped into a shaft of light from the skylight. "But _I_ am, so let's get down to business, shall we?"

I stared at him. He stared at me, a strange, cruel smile on his face. Not that he was hard on the eyes – far from it – but I was fairly worried now. "M-Megatron?"

He chuckled under his breath. "Now that we are acquainted, Ella, why don't we get even _more_ acquainted?" His red optics glowed.

I nearly bit my tongue off then, and I found myself shaking my head. "No," I said, simply. "Umm…no…uh…" I felt like the guy on the chicken snitzel ad. Plus, my hand was still hurting. But I didn't want Megatron to get the All-Spark, so my fate seemed irrelevant.

Megatron regarded me, an amused look on his face. "Oh, but Ella…you do not have a _choice_ in the matter, so to speak…" He sounded like he was getting ready to kill me now.

"You _wouldn't_…" I began to struggle with my chains again, more forcefully this time, but it did no good.

Megatron chuckled again. "Just watch me, Ella…"

Suddenly, Karr's voice spoke up. It was quiet now, careful. "Maybe we should wait, Milord…"

Megatron turned to her, and spoke coldly to her. "I do not remember asking for your opinion, human…"

My blood boiled slightly. Karr may have betrayed me – but she was _still_ my best friend. I didn't like the way Megatron was speaking to her.

He was still speaking. "You know," He said thoughtfully. "I have Ella now, so you have served your purpose." And he aimed his plasma cannon right at her! "I will just get rid of you now, human. Put her down, Blitzwing."

Blitzwing didn't move. His cold-face was on, and he looked unhappy.

Karr suddenly looked terrified, and I realised just how evil Megatron really could be! Plus, he was threatening my best friend…

I clenched my fists, ignoring the pain in my broken hand.

Megatron's optics flashed angrily. "Fine, then I shall just destroy you both – anyone else who does not wish to be destroyed should move back now."

Everyone except for Blitzwing and Karr took about six steps back. That was all they needed.

Megatron took aim at the motionless pair that was Karr and Blitzing.

Anger welled up inside of me, and I snapped. I thrust my hands out in front of me, snapping the chains with a loud clang and bringing my hands together, _Kamehameha_-style.

I didn't need to speak – blue energy welled up in my hands, and burst forth in a beam of power, which hit Megatron square in the back and sent him flying into the opposite wall.

At the same time, the wall to my right was hit with something from the outside, and I swear I have _never_ been so glad to see the Autobots! Optimus Prime, Prowl, Bulkhead, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Rosanna, Chromia, Flareup and Glyph appeared in all of their glory, even though those last four were much smaller than they should be.

For a split-second, I worried about Ratchet and Lockdown being in the same place for too long, and what Optimus' reaction to Blackarachnia might be.

Then, Glyph shouted: "THE ENERGON CORE IN THIS ROOM IS UNSTABLE – THERE'S GOING TO BE AN EXPLOSION!!!!"

Everyone was quiet for a second, and then everything began happening at once and I lost track of it all, except for Flareup suddenly appearing next to me, and melting the shackles around my ankles.

Then she was hit, Ravage had tackled her to the ground, and Prowl rushed to the small pink fem's aid.

We were badly outnumbered – even I could see that, and I hated maths.

Bumblebee was suddenly at my side, and he took me up in his hands.

"You came…" I whispered, and then Bee was hit with a missile from Blackout's cannon. Both of us went flying into a wall, which I hit, and my poor hand hurt so much that I screamed.

"El!" Bee gasped, reaching for my hand. He was very badly injured, raw energon running from wounds on his chest and head.

I gasped too, searching through my tears, reaching through the pain with my damaged beyond repair hand.

I found Bee's hand, and let it close around my own, feeling a strange warmth spreading straight through me, ignoring that and the blue light on both our fingertips, I could only see Bee's optics, and the agony within them. I'm sure they reflected my own.

"I failed you." He whispered.

"You could never." I replied, shaking my head. _I'd come for you, no one but you, yes I'd come for you – but only if you told me to. And I'd fight for you, I'd lie, it's true, give my life for you – you know I'll always come for you._ The words played over and over again in my mind, Bee and I were drawn closer together, me into his arms, but our damaged hands still clasped. Until, finally, we were chest-to-chest, my heart beating along with his spark. If Bumblebee was my guardian, I wanted to assure him that he hadn't failed me, no matter what.

It was strange – the world seemed to be falling apart around us, and all that mattered to me was comforting one of the best friends I'd ever had.

Suddenly, I happened to glance down at my chest. "_My star necklace_!!" I yelled. The necklace Daddy gave me was gone! Who knew where I'd lost it! My tears cascaded over. Where was it!? Oh Primus… "_The necklace Daddy gave me before he left me all alone when_…!!" I couldn't finish my sentence. My heart felt wrenched in too.

"El!" From his voice, I knew that Bee felt that his spark was going in the same direction as my heart. Bee held me up against his chest, tightly, and I buried my face in his chest as the world fell apart around us. This horrific situation was bringing out the strangest sides of us both, and my heart beat in my ears. "_You're never gonna be alone from this moment on if you ever feel like letting go I won't let you fall_…" It was a classic Nickelback moment, but the song that was now playing in my mind comforted me – I didn't even realise Bee was playing the song right into my ears, it was stretching to my poor aching heart, attempting to calm it.

I don't know if it was working or not.

I'd just wanted Karr back…but I had Bee, and that mattered too. I hadn't realised how much, and I still didn't.

Ratchet came running up to us suddenly. "_Get Ella out of here NOW_!!" He shouted, deflecting a bunch of long-range attacks from Lugnut.

Bee and I jumped back, the spell broken. "But what about you guys!?" I cried, holding the shattered remains of my hand to my chest. Three words – cracked egg shell. Something a hand should never look like. Bone and muscle showed. Blood flowed. Things I couldn't even identify were visible. The skin was hardly even there anymore.

I didn't know how the All-Spark was gonna be able to heal _that_.

And it hurt like hell.

"_NOW_!!" Ratchet yelled in his 'don't-argue-with-me' voice. I saw him glance at my hand, and cringe. If the All-Spark couldn't fix it, then Ratchet had a near-on impossible task ahead of him – _if_ we all survived this thing.

Bee, however, was suddenly spurred into action, as if Ratchet's words had triggered some kind of survival instinct within him. He transformed and opened his door for me.

I glanced at him.

Then, I happened to glance over, and see Karr standing there in front of the window, on Blitzwing's shoulder.

My eyes must've asked the silent question, because she shook her head firmly, and then Blitzwing flew away, taking my best friend and a piece of my heart with him.

"_Karr_!" I cried, and Rosanna's holoform was suddenly behind me, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me into the waiting yellow Voltswagon, which drove us both away into the night.

I huddled against Rosanna, sobbing my heart out over everything – my missing best friend, my injured _other_ best friend, the possible out-come of the battle we'd just left behind, my injured hand and my lost necklace. Rosanna held me against her, her arms wrapped around me. My face was buried against her chest, my ruined hand pressed between my stomach and hers.

She held me, saying nothing. Bee was silent too, as he drove through the night.

And I just cried and cried and cried, as if I might never be happy again.

But, there was one thing I was glad for, above all others – Bee, who had come for me and rescued me from sure danger, was _alive_. He was injured, but still living. His spark was still beating, in harmony with my own beating heart.

I didn't know why, but that was enough to lull me into a deep, deep sleep, where my dreams were a maze of blue-coloured light and somebody holding my good hand and singing lullabies to me in his calm, soothing voice.


	17. Part One Epilogue

PART ONE

Epilogue

***

All around me I could hear voices. They were the voices of people or not-people talking, but I couldn't make out the words, just who the voices belonged to – Ratchet, Optimus, Prowl, Bulkhead, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Flareup, Chromia, Glyph, Rosanna and Bumblebee. Even in my state of unconsciousness, with the seeming feeling of cotton wrapped around my head, I could still discern that it was them, and I was grateful that they were all still alive.

Despite the ferocity of the battle we had just faced, despite the fact that we had been outnumbered, outmanoeuvred and possibly outmatched, we had still survived, and we'd all come out in the end.

I knew this, because I could feel that they were all there with me here, wherever 'here' was.

I had no idea; I didn't know what time it was, what day it was, I knew nothing.

Just that everyone who had come to protect me was here, and that my hand felt weird.

There was no pain anymore, the pain from before seemed only a distant memory, but this new sensation was much worse.

There was pulling, and there was tugging, and there was poking, and there was prodding.

There were strange sounds – clinks of metal, taps of medical tools, and some third sound that I couldn't even identify.

I felt the sensation of something sliding over the bones, and I would have frozen – tensed up in response to the sickening feeling – but I was paralysed all over. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, and I don't even know how I was breathing.

I had no idea what was going on.

The only thing that made sense was when the strange sensation began to wear off, replaced only by a dull numbness. My hand was fine, and everything slipped back to the way it should be, although I _still_ couldn't move.

But I was finally able to discern some of the words that were being spoken around me, and I strained my ears to listen in.

"…time is it?" That was Flareup. She was asking for the time. I could hear her doing something on the other side of the room.

And Sideswipe's voice answering her. "Four o'clock in the morning – earth time, that is." He was standing closer to me then she was.

"…should be getting her back to…?" Asked Bulkhead. I still couldn't hear them properly if they were on the other side of the room, and I wanted to frown in annoyance, but I couldn't.

I also couldn't tell if I was lying down or sitting up – the numbness took all sense away from me. I could've been standing in the Triangle-Yoga pose for all I knew. But I assumed I was lying down.

No sensation, at all.

"No." Said the quiet voice of Prowl, the ninja-bot. From the direction of his voice, I think he was directly in front of me. At the foot of the bed I was lying on, perhaps?

"Is she going to be alright?" Asked another voice, from right beside me, on the left side of me. I instantly focused on that voice above all others. It was Bumblebee's voice!

"Yes, now stop asking." Ratchet snapped.

"You can't blame me for being worried…" Bee's voice sounded like it was moving further away from me! I wanted desperately to call for him to come back. "…she nearly died…of me…"

_No, it wasn't your fault!_ I wanted to yell.

But I just couldn't. I found, however, that I could _move_ again, and move I did.

My left hand shot straight out, clawing at thin air, searching for Bee. Was he going to come back?

He did.

I felt his holoform's hand slide into my own, squeezing it gently as he placed it back onto the bed beside me. "El?" He asked quietly. "Can you hear me?"

I squeezed his hand again – it was all I could do, because I couldn't speak, and I couldn't open my eyes. I could move though – everything except my right hand. I squeezed Bee's hand again, asking a silent question. My heart beat in panic.

"It's the mixture of morphine and anaesthenergon we had to put in her system," I heard Ratchet say quietly from my right side, and I got the strangest feeling that he was touching my right hand, but I _couldn't feel it_. I also wondered what the hell anaesthenergon was. "She'll be alright in a few hours, kid." His voice was gentler now, reassuring, calming both me and Bee.

"She's not…any pain?" Came Optimus' voice from somewhere across the room, checking.

"No," I thought Ratchet was shaking his head. "But she might be when she wakes up properly and the anaesthenergon wears off."

There was that word again.

"Slagging Decepticons." I heard Rosanna mutter from close by.

"What about…?" Bulkhead asked. "Isn't she…best…?"

"We'll sort that…but for now…" Said Sunstreaker, frustrating me once more because I couldn't hear him properly. If they weren't standing right next to me, then there were gaps.

"…will…upset." Sideswipe said.

"Ssh!" Hissed Chromia. "She's listening!"

"She can hear?" Glyph sounded surprised.

"She's probably…listening…conversation." Came Rosanna's voice from the other side of the room.

Bee spoke softly to me then. "El, if you can hear me…I'm sorry you got hurt."

I felt him squeezing my hand, and I squeezed back, to reassure him. If it was the only thing I could do, then I would make sure I got it through to him.

But why couldn't I move my right hand?

Bee said: "Doc-Bot…about her right servo…hand, thing…???" He trailed off.

"You wanna know if she'll be able to use it again?" Ratchet clarified, as I began to slip into a state of sleep again.

"Yeah…so, will she?" Bee wanted to know.

Ratchet sighed, and that's about the time I fell asleep, so I didn't get to hear his answer.

***

END OF PART ONE


	18. Part Two Prologue

PART TWO

Prologue

***

When I was young, I spent a lot of time with my Mamma, because Daddy was usually away somewhere, although I don't remember where.

What I _do_ remember, however, if Mamma showing me how to do many, many things. Drawing, painting, playing the piano, sewing, cooking, all sorts of things.

If I had somehow lost the ability to do all of those things – as I am primarily right-handed, and only partially left-handed – then I wasn't going to be thrilled.

And the Decepticons would pay.

Especially for taking Karr away from me.


	19. Left Behind

CHAPTER ONE

Left Behind

***

_Plink plink plink_.

The sound of rain hitting the ground.

It had been sunny yesterday, and the day before that. But sometimes the weather decided to veer off in a totally new direction, and dare to be different. Today was a perfect example of that. I shouldn't have been so surprised.

I woke up slowly, opening my eyes for what felt like the first time ever.

I was staring into a pair of sapphire blue eyes, oval and cat-shaped.

"Saphira?" I asked, blinking.

"Mew." She replied, and licked my nose, before jumping off of my chest and onto the floor.

I heard the creak of the rocking chair, and looked over to see Bee's holoform getting up, and walking over to me.

"Ella," He asked, kneeling down beside the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been run over by a truck," I said without thinking. Then, I remembered Optimus, and added: "No offence. How did I get home anyway?"

"I drove you home," Bee said quietly, as I sat up, and glanced out the window, to the rain outside. It was impossible to tell the time of day from that. "It's ten o'clock, your time." Bee added, as if he'd guessed what I was thinking. "It began raining about an hour ago." He added, and I nodded absently.

I glanced at the driveway, where Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were usually parked, but they weren't there.

Neither was Fran's car.

"Oh." I said blankly. "They left without me?"

Bee nodded. "Fran didn't even bother to come up and get you, she just said that you weren't up and so they were leaving without you." He looked angry.

"Typical Fran." I muttered. The thought of my step-mother reminded me of our fight last night, and I glanced down at my right hand quickly.

"Uh, El, there's something…" Bee began, but I cut him off.

"It _looks_ okay." I said uncertainly. I tapped it with my left index finger. "It _feels_ okay…" I added, and attempted to flex my fingers. They bent when I asked them to. I sighed. "It seems to be okay, so…what's the problem?"

Bee was staring at my hand. "Uh, El…" He said again. "Your hand was…very badly damaged in the fight, and from _before_…" He gritted his teeth and so did I, as we both thought of Fran. "Ratchet and the All-Spark were both working to repair it…put the skin back on and everything…" I cringed, and Bee looked at me apologetically, realising that I might not want to know what my hand had been doing to repair itself. "Anyway, it wasn't healing fast enough," He went on, and I remembered all the strange feelings from when I'd been paralysed. "Ratchet and Prowl put some anaesthenergon into you – that's anaesthetic mixed with energon, by the way," Bee informed me, and I nodded. That made sense. "To paralyse and numb you so that you wouldn't feel it when…" He trailed off, glancing at my small shelf where some of my old DVD's and videos rest.

I followed his gaze suspiciously. His eyes were on my copy of the movie _Robocop_. I began to have a _very_ bad feeling. "Did _what_?" I asked, my voice rising. "Bumblebee, _what_ did Ratchet have to do!?"

I wasn't sure I wanted to know.


	20. RoboGirl?

CHAPTER TWO

Robo-Girl?

***

There was not a sound in my room except for Saphira's gentle purring, as I tried to comprehend what Bee had just said to me.

Bumblebee was watching me carefully, as if I might explode if I was pushed any further.

I couldn't _believe_ what he had just said…not in my wildest dreams had I ever _imagined_ that this could be real.

It was possibly even more startling to me then having the All-Spark within me.

_Maybe_…

I opened my mouth, and spoke very slowly, to try to understand it better. "My hand…" I lifted it up slowly. It didn't _feel_ any different. "_This_ hand…has robot-parts in it now?" Somehow, saying the words didn't make it seem any less strange.

Bee nodded and then, catching the anxiety that flashed across my face, began speaking very quickly. "It's not as bad as it sounds, El! Ratchet was very pleased with how flawlessly the procedure went! …Well, except for that time when you almost died on the operating berth sorry, sorry!" He apologized when I gasped. I _died_? "Anyway, your body responded _incredibly_ well to the foreign material," He sounded like he was quoting Ratchet. "Almost as if it _wasn't_ foreign…" He muttered to himself. "Perhaps it means that humans and Transformers are more similar…" Okay, now I knew he was quoting the old doc-bot. "More genetically compatible then we thought…"

"I-it-what do you-how can-wha…!?" I began stammering. My head was swimming with the overload of information. Another blow like that and I might explode – or fall to pieces.

Bee changed direction immediately. "But the mixture of energon, blood and muscle in your hand now," He said earnestly. "Coupled with the bones, circuitry wires, metal and…"

"Okay, I don't wanna know!" I interrupted him. I was weirded out by the horror of the situation, and I was surprised and pleased by how well Bee was handling it. Well, I supposed this was Bee, who was always the first to befriend the human in these things. It wasn't, oh say, _Sentinel Prime_…

I winced and smiled grimly at the same time, thinking about what Sentinel's reaction would have been like.

Bee grinned. "I knew that would get to you." He said smugly, and I replied by throwing a pillow at him.

"Go downstairs and make yourself useful while I get dressed!" I snapped, and he hurried from the room, still grinning. "Mechs." I muttered, swinging my legs out of bed and rolling my eyes. "Can't live with them, can't melt them down for parts…"

"I _heard_ that!" Bee yelled from somewhere downstairs.

It was my turn to grin. I had hoped he would.

***

I made my way downstairs carefully, with Saphira at my heels, probably hungry but never once complaining.

I was wearing a pair of black denim three-quarter-length pants and a yellow and t-shirt with the words _Beautiful Inside And Out_ on it. It had taken me about fifteen minutes to get dressed, but only because I wasn't used to using a hand with metal in it. The nerves were still getting used to the whole concept, and so was I, but I had brushed my hair and made myself look presentable. Bee's eyes were approving as I made my way into the kitchen, and over to the cupboard to feed Saphira.

I reached for the can of tuna, and my hand shook slightly, well trembled was more the word. I frowned at it. "Is it supposed to do that?" My hand trembled again.

Bee looked only slightly worried. "I don't know…we'll have to ask Ratchet when they get back." He was sitting at the kitchen table like he owned the place, looking completely at ease, as _St. Elmo's Fire_ played on the clock radio in the kitchen.

"Oh…where have they gone?" I asked, as I managed to open the can and pour out the food into Saphira's cat bowl without killing myself.

"Everyone's gone out of town, to make sure the Decepticons have left that base, and to make sure there are no traces left of the energon." Bee said immediately, and I was grateful for his honesty. He wasn't worried about scaring me with that information. "Oh, except for Prowl," He added, as I went into the cupboard for my own breakfast, and emerged with pasta (well, it was more like lunch by now – brunch).

"Where did Prowl go?" I asked, sitting down beside him after I'd poured the pasta into a bowl.

"Umm…aren't you supposed to _cook_ those, El?" Bee pointed out.

"I eat them as they come," I said, biting into a pasta bow-tie with a loud, satisfying CRUNCH. "Now, what's Prowl up to?"

"He's looking for Karr." Bee admitted quietly, and watched me carefully as I nodded, not quite looking at him. "Are you…okay with all this, El?"

I took my time answering – I was finished my strange pasta breakfast by that time, and I have to admire Bee for his patience there. Bee is not known for his patience – that's Prowl's area of expertise. "About as alright as I am with being left behind when my step-family goes to see _my_ Big Nanna." I replied.

"El…"

"I need a coffee." I declared, going over and switching on the coffee machine.

***

"I wonder…if I can still do stuff with this hand…" I said when I'd finished my mocha, and gestured vaguely with my right hand.

"Like what?" Bee asked carefully.

"Like play the piano," I said and then, catching the look on his face, I added: "And, yes, I _could_ before…" I got up, put my cup in the sink, and stalked into the family room. I wasn't actually mad at Bee, I was mad at my step-family – how _dare_ they leave me behind!

I sat down at piano as Bee came in. The piano used to belong to my mother, and the only reason Fran hasn't sold it yet is because the twins take lessons.

That fact is…horrible. But at least it's still here.

I can play the piano – by ear, however. I can't read music, but I glanced carefully at the sheet music in front of me. It still made no sense to me as I sat down.

I began playing _Fur Elise_.

Bee's eyes widened, and I stopped playing immediately. "No way!" I exclaimed, and quickly switched to something more my own style, which sounds suspiciously like _Bella's Lullaby_. "That's better." I sighed, and then a strange thought crossed my mind. "Umm…Bee?" I was sure my face was guarded.

"Yes El?"

"Where did Ratchet get the stuff for my hand?" I asked, avoiding calling it circuitry.

It was Bee's turn to look guarded, and he said: "Umm…he had to find a donor, and fast," He added. "Because of the rate your hand was losing blood and muscle..."

I was not to be weirded out this time. "Who was the donor?" I asked, in a level voice. "And it had better not be a Decepticon!" I nearly growled.

Bee's eyes widened, and he looked startled. "No!" he exclaimed. "It was _me_!" I could tell he wasn't lying.

I also couldn't answer him. We stared at each other for what seemed like the longest time, and then the sound of the phone made us both jump.

I hurried into the kitchen to answer it, with Bee trailing behind me.

"Hello?" I asked when I picked up the phone.

Bee, standing behind me and off to the side, watched me carefully as my tone of voice changed from casual, to startled, to annoyed, to pretend-politeness, to quivering with anger, to frustration, to shock, to defeat and finally back to casual as I said goodbye to the dial-tone. I returned the phone to its hook with a bit more force than was necessary, and turned to face a waiting Bee.

"Your step-mother?" He asked quietly.

I nodded.

"What did she want?" Bee asked, almost angrily.

"She wants me to clean the entire house." I whispered.

Bee's electric blue eyes widened. Clearly, he had not been expecting that, but I knew better. "The _whole_ house?" He asked in disbelief.

I nodded glumly. "From top-to-bottom." _There_ _goes my Saturday._ I realised.

Bee shook his head. "You're not going to do it, are you?"

I shrugged, opening the back door so that Saphira could go outside. "What else can I do? She'll know if I don't…" _I wish the other Autobots were here too, so that they could help me…not that I would ever __dream__ of asking that of them…_

"I'll help you." Bee said suddenly.

I looked at him, startled. "You will?"

He nodded. "Sure. I hate cleaning – but you're wor…" He was cut off when I threw my arms around him and squeezed the life out of him.

"Thank you Bee!" I exclaimed. "You're the best guy friend I ever could have dreamed of!"


	21. No Ordinary Fem

CHAPTER THREE

No Ordinary Fem

***

"It's never bothered me that you have such a big house before, El." Bee said honestly, as we both stood in the front hall. To our right was the living room, to our left was the kitchen. In front of us was a staircase, leading to the second floor. There are three bedrooms in our house (Fran's, Sasha's and Sandra's), one attic (my room), one spare room (why we have one, I know not), a dining room (with a small chandelier and tall windows with dark red curtains), a home entertainment room (which features The Tower Of Power, better known as Gadget City), a laundry (with a linen closet), two bathrooms (one for Fran and one for the twins and I) and a powder room (for guests) as well.

Bee and I were going to be cleaning, washing, sweeping, vacuuming, dusting and moving things about _all day long_. All night too, if we didn't work hard enough now.

I didn't know if Fran wanted me to clean _outside_ the house as well – and I wasn't going to call back to find out.

"Kitchen first." I said, heading for the tiled room, with Bee trailing behind me like a cute blonde puppy.

I turned on the music and Bee and I began to clean.

***

_I've got a special power  
that I'm not afraid to use.  
ev-ery waking hour  
I discover something new_

So come on this is my adventure  
this is my fantasy,  
it's all about living in the ocean,  
bein' wild and free.

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl.  
I'm from the deep blue underworld,  
land or sea, I've got the power if I just believe.

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl.  
I'm from the deep blue underworld,  
land or sea the world's my oyster I'm the pearl.  
No ordinary girl.

We've got to stick together,  
cause the best things come in three,  
i want it to last for ever,  
all the magic and fun at sea,

so come on this is our adventure,  
there's no telling were we'll go,  
but all i want is just to live amongst the H2O!

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl.  
I'm from the deep blue underworld land or sea,  
I've got the power if I just believe.

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl.  
I'm from the deep blue underworld,  
land or sea the worlds my oyster I'm the pearl.  
No ordinary girl.

Come along it just gets better,  
so much to do and just so little time,  
cause it all depends on whether,  
you want to leave the land above behind.

'Cause I'm no ordinary girl.  
I'm from the deep blue underworld,  
land or sea, I've got the power if i just believe

…

Bee and I worked our afts off for twelve whole hours, stopping only for me to have something to eat, and for us both to chase Saphira around the house when she stole his feather duster.

"Hey, El!" Bee called from the living room. "I found a Clow Card!"

"Oh for Primus'…that's Sasha's, throw it into her room!" I called back, up to my elbows in soap suds – the washing machine had just exploded.

We decided to skip cleaning Fran's room, and the twins' rooms, because when we opened the door to Sandra's room, we were greeted by the purple and yellow walls.

"Apart they're fine, but together…" I said, and Bee shuddered.

"My optics." He whimpered.

"Tell them to fix themselves," I cautioned him. "The bathroom is next. And it's a real disaster area in there."

"I think I'll clean the powder room downstairs!" Bee said quickly.

"You do that then." I replied.

By nine o'clock that night, we collapsed onto the living room couch simultaneously, utterly exhausted.

"I didn't think Transformers _got_ tired." I said to Bee, keeping my eyes closed – ooh, my head felt so sore!

"Nah, you're thinking of vampires, El." Bee replied. I could hear the smile in his voice. He sat up suddenly. "Hey, El – where is all your parent's stuff?"

I didn't open my eyes. "Touchy subject, Bee."

"I'm sorry," He said contritely. "But I really wanna know."

I opened my eyes. He was looking at me with a thoughtful expression on his face. I blinked. "Do you really want to know?"

He nodded eagerly.

I sighed. "Okay, come on then." We got up, and I grabbed a torch from the kitchen drawer. We went outside, and I led the way out back to the old tool shed.

"El!?" Bee sounded shocked, when I opened the door and shone the light in at all the stuff that used to belong to my Mum and Dad. "Why did..!?" He sounded angry again.

I felt a lump rise up in my throat, when I shone the torchlight on certain things – old paintings that my mum had done, all my dad's old books, Mamma's favourite lamps, the wedding photos. In fact, pretty much everything – EXCEPT Mamma's jewellery. That is hidden upstairs in my room, away from my step-family's prying eyes and greedy hands. The very _thought_ of all Mamma's favourite sapphire and diamond jewellery on…

I didn't realise Bee had left my side until I trained the flashlight beam, on him and found him with a box in his hands. "What are you doing?" I asked him, not accusingly.

He held up the box. "What's in this?"

I came over and trained the light on the box. "I dunno, it's locked." I replied. The box was made of silver and was very pretty.

"Is there a key?"

"Of course – every lock has a key." I replied.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, let me rephrase that – do you know where the key _is_?"

I shook my head, and replaced the box on Mamma's glory box. I'd done enough around the house for one day, without looking for a big old silver key to fit in a box. "Come on, let's head in."

Bee paused, and then agreed. "Yeah – let's find something on TV."

"I wonder what's on?"

"Let's find out."

***

We found out alright.

"No – Jack." I sobbed, as Rose let go of Jack's hand and he sank into the black waters, where the remains of the once proud _Titanic_ now rested in ruins. "I'll never let go." I whispered Rose's line along with her, sniffling because it was all so sad.

Bee had a strange look on his face. "Did they _really_ lock all those people on the third floor to drown?" He knew it was based on a true story.

I nodded. "I know – I hated it too." From her spot on about fifty couch cushions, Saphira meowed plaintively.

The sound of a car engine pulling up in the driveway out the front startled us both out of our reverie (or maybe it was Rose's whistle), and that was when we discovered how close we had been sitting next to each other on the couch – I hadn't even realised I'd been resting my head on his shoulder up until I'd raised my head when I'd started to cry, and then Bee had taken my hand.

We both jumped apart like we'd been shocked, and were on opposite ends of the couch when the Autobots – in their holoforms – walked into the house.

Minus Prowl, of course.

Still, I was glad to see them.

"Hey you two, what's up?" Rosanna asked cheerfully, as she and the other Autobots stationed themselves around the room.

"Hi Rosanna." Bee and I replied in unison.

"What have you two been _doing_ all day?" Chromia wanted to know. "The house looks so _clean_."

"You both look really tired." Sides added suspiciously. "Anything we should know about?"

Flareup rolled her eyes.

Bee and I exchanged a glance. Where to start?


	22. We’re Going To The City!

CHAPTER FOUR

We're Going To The City!

***

I woke up the next morning, dressed in a sky blue sundress (it was hot today) and went downstairs to discover my kitchen full of Autobot holoforms – and Prowl was back!

He was sitting at the kitchen table, talking to Optimus. I've never been so glad to see him before!

"Prowl," I exclaimed, rushing to his side before I'd even said goodmorning to anyone else. "What news?"

He raised an eyebrow behind his glasses. "Goodmorning Ella."

"Hi," I said quickly. "Karr?"

Prowl shook his head. "I'm afraid it's bad news – the Decepticons seem to have disappeared altogether, Karr included."

"Oh no." I moaned, sinking into another chair and resting my elbows on the table. Even though my head was in my hands, I shook it. "How will we find her now?" Despite everything, despite what she'd done to us – to _me_ – she was still my best friend.

I was worried for her.

Everyone began talking at once, trying to calm me down – why, I know not.

"It's okay Ella, we'll find Karr, don't worry!" Prowl said quickly.

"That's right, we'll do whatever it takes to get her back." Optimus agreed.

"We won't let it get out of hand." Was Rosanna's input.

"Have some breakfast in the mean time." Chromia added, and placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of me. "Don't worry," She added, as I glanced at her questioningly. "I learned to cook online."

I smiled.

"And I made you some coffee." Bee added, handing me a mug.

"Thank you." I told everyone, smiling at them all now, my anxious feelings gone.

They looked relieved.

But something put an end to my calmness as soon as I'd finished my breakfast.

I looked out the window…and saw Saphira being harassed by a neighbour's bulldog, which is ten times bigger than she is!

I jumped up. "Saphira!" I cried, and ran for the door, with everyone else right behind me.

Bee and I reached the door at the same time and yanked it open, and we all ran outside. I ran fastest of all across the yard, not really caring if the bulldog ripped me to shreds or not, and grabbed Saphira, throwing my right hand out as I landed on my knees. The bulldog clamped down onto my right wrist.

"ELLA!!" Bulkhead, Chromia and I think Glyph yelled.

I winced as the bulldog's teeth sunk into my skin – and then the strangest thing happened.

Like the bulldog had run into a bouncy thing, she was suddenly thrown backwards in a burst of blue light from my hand. As Bee reached me first, the bulldog picked herself up, gave us all a scared look, and then ran off, whimpering.

As Bee took my right wrist in his hands and examined it, I looked at the Autobot leader. "I'm gonna pretend that didn't happen." I told Optimus. I was freaked out all over again. And my hand trembled. "Oh for Primus' sake…"I muttered. "Ratchet, _why_ does it do that?" I should have been more annoyed at the fact that everyone was making such a big deal over this (which in turn was making _me_ freak out) but I didn't mind Bee or the others fussing over me – in fact, Rosanna's fussing reminded me a little of a mother hen. It wasn't annoying at all.

Ratchet didn't answer, but just traded a glance with Optimus. _That_ was annoying.

Then, Bee sucked in a sharp intake of breath.

"_What_!?" I exclaimed. He was still examining my hand – that made me nervous.

He didn't answer – he just exchanged a look with Ratchet.

Okay, this was getting on my nerves. I yanked my (somewhat bleeding) hand back from Bee, held Saphira out in front of me, and looked at her.

She looked at me.

We both nodded.

"What was that for?" Flareup asked curiously.

I smiled sweetly, and didn't say anything.

Bee groaned, and Optimus sighed. Served them right

Ratchet rolled his eyes. "Young ones these days…" He muttered angrily. "Probably has _rabies_ now…" He began working on my arm, right there in the front yard (well, probably nobody was watching).

"I want to go somewhere." I informed the others, who were immediately interested.

"Where do you want to go?" Glyph asked, sounding a lot like Lunar from _Sailor Moon_.

"To see a movie," And I wasn't about to tell them _which_ – they would just have to wait and see! "At Cinema Paradiso in Northbri…"

Rosanna's eyes lit up. "We're going to the city?"

I nodded. And I knew just which movie we were going to see…


	23. Jass

CHAPTER FIVE

Jass

***

We walked out of the movie theatre a few hours later.

"Wow," Chromia said. "Just…wow…" She shook her head in amazement. "I _totally_ kick aft on the big screen."

"I know." Bumblebee grinned.

"But some parts were totally unrealistic," Prowl said. "For example – the All-Spark being a cube?" He shook his head. "Everyone knows that before it became a part of Ella, it was a _sphere_…"

"And Prime being 30f tall – _please_." Bee laughed. "That was about as realistic as Ratchet being young!" He stumbled a bit as Ratchet whacked him upside the head, and a few people we were passing stared at us.

"Why was Sides' in the movie – but I wasn't?" Sunny complained. His brother just laughed.

We were walking through the city, attracting a lot more attention then I'd thought we would. Well, I guessed what with Bee's trademark colour scheme, Chromia's resemblance to Alice Cullen, Bulkhead's size, Prowl's ninja-ness, my hand in a bandage and the electric blue eyes of all my friends…really, I'm surprised no one recognised them and shouted out: "AUTOBOTS!!"

Well, maybe they just gathered that Prowl and Chromia were cosplayers, Bulkhead had an underactive thyroid, and that Bee was…well, I'm not sure _what_ they thought of Bee, but girls kept on staring at him. They also glared at me.

Suddenly, as we were walking through Forest Place, I came to a dead stop. Chromia, who had been walking behind me and chatting with Rosanna, walked into me. "Ow, Ella!" She complained.

I didn't answer her – I just obediently raised my left hand in greeting. There was no other choice.

And Jass, who was walking toward me, called: "Hi Ells! Who're your friends?"

"Umm…"

***

It was a bright summer day, but I felt insanely cold as I stammered: "T-these are m-my friends, umm…" _Oh my Primus, they need fake names!_ I realised. _I can't call them by their real names – Jass has heard me talk about Transformers Animated so many times that she'll know!_ "Umm…"

Optimus, suddenly, stepped forward and extended his hand to Jass to shake. "Hello. My name is Owen Princeton," I don't know _why_ I suddenly thought of Avenue Q. "I'm a…friend of Ella's."

Jass shook his hand, looking a little mystified. But, in her extremely _cool_ non-work clothes, she mostly looked gorgeous. Her big brown eyes shone as I introduced my friends to her.

Chromia became Caitlyn, and Flareup and Rosanna became related – I had decided the resemblance between these two was too prominent, because of their hair and the shape of their faces, not to mention those _eyes_. So they were Faye and Rosalie, and they were cousins. Glyph became Gina.

Then Bulkhead became Borris, and Ratchet became his Uncle Randy (that justified us having an old guy with us). Prowl became Paul (I wasn't trying to name everyone after _Twilight_ characters, really) and Sunny and Sides became Sam and Sean…okay, so maybe I was.

Bee became Benny.

I could see the others staring at her, figuring out who she reminded them of as she talked to me.

She was furious when I told her Fran had gone out of town without me.

"She'll be back tonight," I reminded her. "So it's cool."

"Yeah, all cool." She agreed, not quite believing it. She looked at me. "Ella, I heard about Karr going missing – are you okay?"

I cringed. "Umm…surviving?" It was more of a question.

Jass sighed. "Ella…" She began.

Suddenly, we all heard the sound of a jet engine, and my insides immediately turned to ice. Because my heart gave a painful thud in my chest, and the All-Spark within me began to tingle.

My face must've gone pale, because Jass looked at my closely. "Ella, what's up? Ella?"

Around us, people began to look up, looking for the source of the jet engine.

"Guys…" I said nervously.

The Autobots all wore equal expressions of horror – this was just what we'd feared would happen.

There seemed to be a moment of silence, in which my jaw locked and I could talk. I couldn't move.

I couldn't think.

Then, the silent moment broke, and the purple jet swooped down low, and began shooting.

Blitzwing.

And that could mean only one thing…

But for now…

I unlocked my jaw. "AUTOBOTS, TRANSFORM!!!!" I yelled.

And they listened.

***

Things began to happen then – the Autobots transformed to defend me, and Jass's usually dark face whitened at the sight of the robots in disguise.

I grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the line of fire, because there was more than one jet.

A greenish-coloured one came in after the purple one, and Bulkhead shouted: "It's Lugnut!!"

I dragged Jass out of harm's way.

She made me stop, however, and turned me to face her. Her face was incredibly serious, and I'm sure mine was too. "Ella…are these Transformers?"

"Yes." I said very quickly, and then pushed her out of the way as a missile exploded where she would've been standing, and I was flung back into a wall.

Well, I would've hit the wall, except I landed in a hand instead. I was relieved – until I realised who it was.

Blitzwing held me in his hand triumphantly.

I began yelling: "LEMME GO LEMME GO LEMME GO!!!!" I was struggling and, of course, it did no good.

"I have ze girl!!" Crazy Blitzwing cried triumphantly. "Zo let uz go now." Cold Blitzwing added. "Karr?"

Karr stepped out of the shadows, a tiny smirk on her face. My heart thudded painfully at the sight of my best friend, and I thought I was going to cry.

I stopped struggling.

"Huh, I knew zat vould get to her." Cold Blitzwing said.

I began breathing quickly. This was getting out of hand. I wasn't going _anywhere_ with the Decepticons, and _certainly_ not back to their leader!

"Vell,let uz go." Cold Blitzwing suggested, and Karr's smile faltered slightly. "I know, Karr, but zis iz ze only vay." Hold on a second…_Blitzwing comforting Karr_?

Karr looked pained for a second, and then she nodded. "Okay, let's go." She said.

_No!_ I thought. "BUMBLEBEE!!" I shouted.

And Bee came to the rescue, getting me away from Blitzwing without injuring me somehow.

Blitzwing and Lugnut retreated, and they took Karr with them.

But not before I noticed something important – Karr was wearing my necklace.


	24. Hurry!

CHAPTER SIX

Hurry!!

***

I was throwing rocks into the Swan River. One time I nearly hit a black swan, but I didn't care – I was too upset.

And Bee just kept on handing the rocks to me, and I just kept on throwing them. We had a good system going here – pick up, hand, throw, SPLASH. Repeat.

The others watched this all wordlessly until, finally, I threw into the river a rock that was more like a boulder. It landed with a final-sounding splash, and finally I turned around.

"What are we going to do?" I asked in a fairly calm voice. My hands were shaking, and it had nothing to do with the metal in one of them. This was ten times worse than just finding out Karr had gone missing – this was worse than that. It all felt so…unreal.

Jass, who hadn't said a word since we'd arrived at the river, now brought me crashing back to reality though, when she said: "Don't wanna alarm you, Elle…but, about your family…"

I gasped. I hadn't even thought about what would happen if Fran and the twins came home to find me - and the cars - missing. "They're coming back from Big Nanna's tonight!" My gaze snapped to Sunny and Sides'. "You two – the twins are expecting you to _be there_!!" I was breathing heavily, I was trying to calm myself down and figure out how much time we had before time was up. "We have to go – _now_!" I added, grabbing Sides' and Sunny by their hands and full-on dragging them toward the seemingly deserted road.

"Hey, _careful_!" Sunny complained, not expecting the sudden force – I had him by my right hand.

"There's no _time_!" I snapped.

The others followed us.

"Can you get us there in half an hour?" I asked frantically, as Sunny and Sides' returned to their robot forms and then began transforming into their alt modes.

"We can get you there in fifteen minutes." They answered together.

"We'll be home later." Chromia said, meaning herself and the other fems.

I nodded quickly, not evening wondering what they were going to do, because Optimus said: "And we'll…explain things to your…friend." He glanced at Jass.

Jass! She was taking this all incredibly well, considering. She was looking at me, she's incredibly cool about these sorts of strange things.

Reminds me of someone else, someone I may get to meet…

Before I got into Sides', Jass gave me a quick hug and said: "Be careful."

"You're telling me this before I go riding off with one of the _Lambo_ twins?" I asked incredously.

"Hey!" They complained.

I smiled as I buckled my seatbelt. I liked teasing the Lambo twins.

***

"Hmm…" I said, once I was seated in the EXTREMALLY comfortable front passenger seat of the red Lamborghini twin, and we were speeding along the freeway. "I wonder about the Elite Guard…" I hadn't thought about them since I'd found out Transformers were real. And I also had a feeling I was forgetting something _else_…but I was thinking about the Elite Guard right then. It hadn't occured to me until right at that moment, that there really _was_ a whole planet full of giant transforming robots out there somewhere - and I had only met a handful of them. "Jazz …and Ultra Magnus…" I added, as an afterthought.

"You forgot Sentinel Prime." Sides' informed me.

I groaned. "No I didn't, I left him out on purpose."

The twins laughed. Then Sides' asked: "What do you know about the Elite Guard, El?"

I paused for a minute, and then said: "Well, I know that Jazz is a cyber-ninja, just like Prowl, Ultra Magnus is, like, the head honcho of Cybertron, and Sentinel Prime is a real jerk..." I cringed then, wondering if I should have said that.

To my relief, Sunny and Sides' agreed with me wholeheartedly (umm...whole_sparkedly_??).

I began to wonder about Jetfire and Jetstorm too. Had they been created yet? Probably not...I thought back. Had Bee or anyone else mentioned them. I didn't think so.

Hmm...maybe _I_ should...

***

__

Somewhere on Cybertron, an evil plot was about to unfold. Someone was getting slightly worried about something...things weren't going exactly according to plan...and this was a plan that had been going on for nearly fifty stellar cycles, with almost everything worth fighting for riding on it.

So, a new plan must be thought up, and fast.

He had a new plan, alright.

It wasn't going to end well for someone…


	25. Gone Downhill

CHAPTER SEVEN

Gone Downhill

***

Sides' and Sunny sped onto our street, with me urging them on the whole way. They parked on the driveway, and I jumped out of Sides', calling out a thanks over my shoulder and running into the house, stumbling into the front hall where I came to a dead stop.

I looked around me in a shocked horror.

My heart seemed to speed up then, and I staggered back out of the house.

"Oh my…oh my _God_! Oh _God_ no!" I cried.

"What's the matter!?" I hadn't heard the holoforms of Sunny and Sides' come up behind me, until I felt a pair of arms wrap around my shoulders.

"T-the house!" I cried, trying not to get too upset. "It's been…broken into! _Ransacked_! Oh, all the _work_ Bee and I did yesterday! It's _worse_ then when we _started_!" I finished in a kind of wail.

I knew the twins exchanged a glance then, and then Sunny, who was the one whose arms were around my shoulders (that surprised me, I thought Sunstreaker didn't like me very much because I was always teasing him), pointed out: "Did they _take_ anything?" I had a feeling an internet check on 'break ins' had just been done by both of them.

I gasped. "I don't know…I should go check…" I knew I had to see what damage had been done.

I also knew that I shouldn't go into the house alone. The thief could still be in there...

At the same time, Sides' said: "We'll come in with you."

I nodded, and together the three of us walked into the dark house.

***

"WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED TO THIS HOUSE!!??" Fran stormed into the living room, followed by her daughters.

The three of them found me standing there like a statue, staring at the Decepticon symbol scratched into the wall. I had wandered away from the Lambo twins, drawn into the living room for some reason, and I had been too stunned to call out to them.

The thieves hadn't taken anything, which didn't surprise me...what _were_ they looking for?

Had Blitzwing and Lugnut just been a distraction, while Barricade and the others broke into my house and searched for something?

I had no way of knowing.

Now, Fran looked at the symbol on the wall, and recognised it. She took three long strides across the length of the living room and grabbed me by the neck, throwing me against the wall. "_WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!??_" My step-mother screamed.

I cried out in pain, I was having trouble breathing because FRAN WAS CHOKING ME. "What are you doing!?" I choked out.

I wrapped my hands around her wrist and tried to pry her fingers open, but that was hard with lack of oxygen. "What are you…doing?" I tried again.

"Teaching you a lesson." She fairly growled, as I began to black out. This was one of the worst things she had done to me. Was she trying to _kill_ me?

What would happen to the All-Spark if she did?

It was then we heard the Lambo twins come into the living room and say, in perfect unison: "What are you doing to her!?" Sides' sounded shocked, Sunny was angry.

Fran let go of me immediately, and I slumped to the floor, clutching at my throat and gasping. I knew that, once Sunny and Sides' left, Fran was going to kill me. For having two strangers in the house and for letting them see how she punished me.

But, for now, I was just thankful I could breathe! The floor was pretty comfy too.

But Sunny and Sides' didn't want me to stay on the floor, and came up and helped me stand up. Sides' was supporting me, and Sunny was glaring at my step-family. He was standing protectively in front of me and Sides', and didn't show any signs of moving.

"You could have killed her!" Sunny accused. "How _dare_ you…"

"Sunny…" I cut him off. "Please…this isn't…I…"

"Ella," Fran said, in a dangerously low voice that she tried to mask with pretend grace. She didn't realise that Sunny and Sides' could see straight through her little act. "Who are these..._friends_ of yours, dear?" Her voice leaned toward contempt when she called me dear, and I swallowed back the lump in my throat.

"These are...Sam and Sean," I said, deciding to use the names we had used to fool Jass that day. It seemed a lifetime ago. "They're my...friends...from...school." I glanced helplessly at Sides', who shrugged inconspiciously.

"Oh really?" It wasn't Fran who spoke, but one of her daughters. Sandra stepped forward eagerly. "How come I haven't seen you guys around campus before?" She asked and, I swear to Primus that this is what she did, she thrust her chest forward a bit. Sunny and Sides' seemed a bit taken aback by all this.

I rolled my eyes. "Because they're new." I replied.

Sandra now glared at me. "I wasn't talking to _you_!"

"Who cares?" I muttered, wishing Sides' would let go of me. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and pretend this whole day never happened. The Grandfather clock in the dining room struck eight.

"Girls, please," Fran said, and I could see lines of anger start to appear on her face. I had embarrassed her, by letting my friends see how she treated me. She didn't know that they already _had_.

As if on cue, we all heard a voice right then.

"_Ella_!?" It was the one voice I _didn't_ want to hear right then. "_What happened_!?" Bee came into the living room then, and came to a dead halt.

He assessed the situation as I watched him unhappily, knowing that his reaction was going to be unimpressed, to put it mildly.

He saw Sides' holding me, Sunny's protective stance, me holding my throat, and my step-family.

He _didn't_ see the Decepticon symbol on the wall since we were blocking it, but he probably would have freaked out even _more_ if he had.

"Ella," Bee said, in a voice that was touched with concern - but mostly it was quivering with rage. "What _happened_?" I knew that what he meant to say was _what has she done to you_?

And, for this reason, I moved away from Sides' and walked quickly up to Bee, putting my arms on his shoulders and whispering into his ear: "Please Bee, don't make this any worse for me then it already is. You're an Autobot too, remember, and you _don't harm humans_." I think I sounded like movie-verse Optimus Prime then. "I'll be alright, I just need you three to leave now." That was, actually, the _last_ thing I wanted - my heart felt hollow and empty at the thought of Bee leaving now, but there was nothing else I could do if I wanted to stay alive.

Bee didn't look very happy either. "Are you sure?" He whispered back.

I nodded, and swallwoed back another lump in my throat. "Yes. Please go, now."

If I'd only known what was going to happen in the morning, then I would've asked him to stay.


	26. Never After

CHAPTER EIGHT

Never After

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I rewrote chapters six and seven, so please read them before continuing, thanks.

***

I woke up the next morning, which was Monday, feeling a bit lonely. Bee had taken my dismissal to mean that Rosanna, Glyph, Flare-Up and Chromia should stay away too, and I had spent the night alone (well, I had Saphira for company, but I had come to _crave_ Autobot company, even _need_ it). I hadn't slept very well - I'd had a nightmare about being chased by a bulldog - so I was moving around in a fog that Monday morning.

Downstairs, I could hear Fran on the phone, talking to her sister Pam, who is a teacher at St. Josie's. I had forgotten about the upcoming year eleven river cruise and dance, but apparently Fran hadn't.

Oh well, I didn't really like dances anyway.

I went to my wardrobe and got dressed in my school uniform, before packing my school bag.

I went to the secret compartment in the wall, where _all_ my secret stuff stays - my drawing things, photo albums, Mamma's jewellry.

I wanted to bring some of my drawing stuff to school with me. I wanted to make something nice to give to Jass at work today, since she'd handled the whole 'Transformers are real' thing so well.

I was putting the copic markers into my school bag when I heard a voice say: "What the hell is all this!?"

Have you ever heard the expression 'my blood ran ice cold'? Well, mine did. Right then.

I half-turned to see Sandra standing there, staring past me into my secret compartment full of secret things...and her eyes landed on Mamma's jewellry.

"What's _that_!?" She cried, reaching past me and grabbing a few things.

I tried to grab them back, and succeeded in getting most of it back, but Sandra had a brooch still - a beautiful silver star encrusted with star sapphires. It simply beautiful, very old and very precious to me, like all my Mamma's jewellry. Since I hardly remember her, I have to take what I've got of hers, which is not a lot, surprisingly. "Give them back!" I exclaimed, standing up and so did she.

"This will look perfect with my dress for the dance!" Sandra said snappily. "You're giving it to me!"

"Not a chance! That belonged to my Mamma!" My hands were shaking. No _way_ was Sandra getting _anything_ that had once belonged to my Mamma!

"_Yes_," Sandra sneered. "And she's _dead_, isn't she?"

I snapped. With a yell of rage I drew back my right fist and slugged Sandra across the face, causing her to shriek and drop the brooch, which I grabbed and picked up, but I wasn't finished. I was burning up with anger inside at what she'd just said - how _dare_ she!

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE, YOU FRAGGING GLITCH!!" Yes, I called her that, yelling as I chased her down the stairs and into the living room. Sasha was standing at the fire place, burning some documents for her mother, when Sandra and I ran in.

Sandra suddenly stopped by the fireplace, and held something out over the burning flames.

Me and my heart came to a dead stop, clutching the brooch to my chest in horror as Fran come in wondering what on earth was going on.

"Sandra..." I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "Don't..." She was holding a photo album filled with pictures of my parents in it, and if she let go then the pictures would be lost forever to the flames.

Fran was watching me and Sandra, piecing together what was going on.

"Give me the brooch then." Sandra said stubbornly, glaring daggers at me.

What!? No! Why should I give up my Mamma's brooch!? It belonged to me _me_ now, not her!

But the photos...

"What will it be?" Fran asked primly, going to stand by her daughter's side. "Your parents' photo album, or a simple brooch?"

I was barely breathing. A _simple_ brooch? Yeah, right.

But, at least the brooch would still be there, either way, and I could always find a way to steal it back before Sandra got a chance to wear it. I didn't want her wearing the brooch at all.

I had to save the photos, though, because they were all I had left.

I didn't even have any memories left, I couldn't remember my parents very well at all.

With a shaking hand, I reached out and held the brooch out to Sandra.

She looked at me for a moment, before snatching the brooch out of my hand.

And then, to my complete horror, she threw the photo album into the flames!

"NO!!" I screamed, reaching out to grab at it but then Fran grabbed me by the hair and yanked me back, pushing me across the room.

I stood there facing them, tears falling from my eyes, and yelled: "I'M SICK OF THE WAY YOU THREE TREAT ME!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE, YOU FRAGGING GLITCHES, AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THIS TO ME!!"

Fran and her daughters stared at me, whilst the photo album burned behind them. I _hated_ to see the smug expression on Sandra's face, like she'd won, which she _had_.

"Well then," Fran said, pointing toward the front hall. "You know where the door is, you can leave whenever you want."

I stared at her. I had always known this but, legally, Fran _did_ own me, because my Daddy's will had never been found. Otherwise, I would have taken all my stuff and moved in either with Jass or Karr and her family, but I hated the thought of imposing on them.

Fran smiled with smug satisfaction. "Well then, that settles it." She said, and stepped toward me to punish me.

I barely felt a thing - I was numb, as I watched the last of the photo album burn into nothing but ashes.


	27. House Company

CHAPTER NINE

House Company

***

Needless to say, I stayed home from school that day. I became worried, after Fran left for work and the twins left for school, not because I was having a hard time stopping my nose from bleeding, but because I _knew_, I just knew that Sunny and Sides would have heard the commotion, put two and two together and got five.

I realised it might be better for us all if the Autobots came here, and I could stop them from going and killing Fran, and possibly my step-sisters.

I sat in the kitchen, with a tea-towel held up against my nose as I leaned back, staring at the cracks in the ceiling floor.

Saphira sat on the kitchen counter still as a statue, staring at me with wide, sapphire-blue eyes.

"They'll be here soon." I assured her, and she did not look convinced. In fact, she growled softly, and I knew why. "Yeah, I know, I hate her too." I sighed, and cursed at the bruises already starting to appear on both my arms. "We have to get out of here…"

But, looking around, I realised I _couldn't _just abandon the house I had grown up in. I owed _that_ much to my parents.

If only we had found Daddy's will. Then everything would be clearer. I was _sure_ Daddy wouldn't have wanted it to be this way. No, of course he wouldn't have. He'd loved me, that much I was sure of. And I knew my Mamma had loved me too. Otherwise, why else would I have tears streaming down my face right now?

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!! "Ella! Are you home!?"

"Oh slag!" I cursed, jumping up and throwing the towel into the sink, hoping that my nose would behave itself from now on. I hurried into the front hall, remembering at the last second my arms, which I hid behind my back as the door was opening. Saphira hid behind my ankles. I put on a smile. "Hi guys!" I said "cheerfully".

The holoforms of Optimus, Prowl, Ratchet, Bulkhead, Bee, Sunny, Sides, Chromia, Glyph, Flare-Up and Rosanna stood on the front porch, each of them wearing equal expressions of concern. Well, Ratchet, Sunny and Bee – _especially_ Bee – could have been called _angry_.

"What happened?" Were the first words out of Prowl's mouth.

"Hello to you too," I said, raising an eyebrow.

Prowl rolled his eyes.

None of them looked at ease.

"El, _what in Primus' name HAPPENED_ to you this morning?" Sunny asked, pushing his way to the front and standing in front of me.

I blinked. "Umm, what are you two doing here? How far can Transformers project their holoforms?" I wanted to know, before glancing past Sunny and into the front yard, where he and Sides' were parked on the driveway.

"Pretty far," Sides' replied. "But your, umm, step-sisters went to school with your step-mother…"

"Don't even _mention_ her!" Bee said harshly. He was standing very close to me, and I backed up a bit. If he should see my arms…it would be World War Three.

"Yes Ella- what _did_ happen here?" Optimus wanted to know.

I sighed, and lowered my head.

DRIP!

All of us stared at the tiny blood splatter on the carpet. Saphira meowed plaintively.

"Ella! You're nose-thing is bleeding!" Bulkhead exclaimed.

"Oh _no_!" I cried, clapping my hands up against my nose too late to remember my hurt arms, until I heard Glyph's gasp, and saw Sunny's expression grow even angrier.

But Bee was what put his expression to shame.

"WHERE THE FRAG IS THAT GLITCH FRAN!!??" Bee shouted.

"Bumblebee!" Ratchet exclaimed.

"I'LL FRAGGING **KILL** HER!!!!" Bee hadn't heard him.

"Bumblebee!" Optimus sounded like his movie-verse self now. "We _don't_ harm humans!"

"I'LL TEAR HER FRAGGING HEART OUT!!!!" Bee wasn't listening.

"Bumblebee, no!" Flare-Up and Rosanna cried in unison.

"Think about what you're saying!" Chromia added, grabbing Bee's arm.

Bee tried to yank his arm away, but Chromia held on. "I _am_ thinking!" Bee snarled, turning away.

"No, you're not." Prowl said.

"HOW CAN YOU JUST STAND THERE LIKE NOTHING'S WRONG!!??" Bee yelled. "HOW CAN WE LET THIS GO ON!!?? THERE HAS TO BE A SOLUTION!! I LOVE EL TOO MUCH TO LET HER SUFFER LIKE THIS!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF HER, LET ME **KILL THAT FRAGGING GLITCH FRAN**!!!!"

My head snapped up, splattering blood all over the doorframe and Sunstreaker, who yelped.

At the same time, Chromia, who's as tough as nails, slagged Bee right across the face. "_Get a hold of yourself_!!" Yes, dainty-looking little Chromia _screamed_.

Bee blinked, and looked at us all. His gaze finally came to rest on me and, when it did, I lunged at him and threw my arms around him, sobbing and bleeding into his yellow jacket.

"Calm down." He said, patting my back all the same.

I sniffled. "Okay."

***

We went into the house and shut the front door. Bee marched me straight over to the kitchen, and got me a clean tea towel. He and Ratchet sat with me whilst the others surveyed the damage of the house.

"DAMN DECEPTICONS!!" We heard Chromia yell from the living room.

Bee and I exchanged a glance, and then called: "Calm down Chromia!"

She appeared in the doorway. "Oh shut up." She smiled, coming over to me. "So, El, who's cleaning up after those glitches?"

"Umm…" I said, glancing at Ratchet quickly.

Chromia sighed. "Oh give me a break…" She muttered.

"We'll do it." Said Flare-Up, who had overheard. She was leaning against the kitchen counter, and now she walked over to the sink, where dishes lay waiting to be loaded into the dishwasher.

"We _will_?" Sunny said incredulously.

"YES." Everyone else replied, and Sides' threw Sunny a bottle of Ajax Spray N' Wipe.

"What's this for?" Sunny asked. "Five in one?" He read.

Sides' nodded, and got out a roll of paper towels. "Let's go." He said.

"Aye!" Everyone else scurried to find jobs. The _entire_ house had to be cleaned again.

Bee, Saphira, Ratchet, Chromia and I were left alone in the kitchen.

I looked at them. "Guys…thank you…you have no idea how much this means to me…"

"El, have you had your coffee this morning?" Chromia interrupted me.

I shook my head. "I haven't even eaten." I admitted.

Which was how Bee found himself cooking eggs, Chromia made coffee for me, and Ratchet grumbled to himself about things like 'step-mothers' and 'abuse'.

Tell me about it.

***

By three o'clock that afternoon, the house was, well, _sparkling_.

We stood in the family room and surveyed our handiwork (yes, I helped too – once my nose stopped bleeding).

"I," I said, standing walking forward and then standing before my friends, my hands clasped. "Love you guys…so much right now…thank you…"

Chromia came up and kissed me on the cheek. "Anytime Ella. That's what friends are for."

"Hey, _I_ wanted to be El's first kiss!" Bee joked, and we all laughed.

It was almost enough to make me forget about the Decepticons – even the symbol had been erased.

Suddenly, we all heard an explosion from somewhere nearby, followed by a lot of screaming.

We all froze.


	28. Hesitation

CHAPTER TEN

Hesitation

***

"Are you okay, El?" Bee asked me.

"_Yes_," I replied, for the ten millionth time, as we sped through the streets towards the flames. "Now stop asking me that and _drive_!"

Bee responded by accelerating, and I grabbed onto my seatbelt

I should have stayed, really. The house may have been safer, especially if some of the Autobots had stayed behind. But, _oh no_, I had flat-out _refused_ to be left behind, I wanted the Autobots to be at full-strength when they faced…well, whatever it was we were speeding towards.

Besides, I knew that Bee was a strong fighter, and that Optimus would _want_ him to be there to fight.

And I felt sick at the thought of Bee going somewhere without me although, for the life of me, I knew not why. I hadn't forgotten what Bee had said, how he'd used the 'L' word, and I wondered…

I wondered about Bee and I…

I wondered how _I_ felt…it felt strange, and I got a sudden jolt. Like I'd swallowed ten cups of coffee. Or about three thousand pounds of electrified sugar.

Like I'd been shocked.

Bumblebee…

***

"_Not forgive…cannot forgive…" The green Transformer said over and over again, as he headed toward earth. "WASP NEVER FORGIVE BUMBLEBOT!!!!"_

***

Bee swerved to avoid cannon fire, as Blitzwing made his appearance. "**Vell, ZIS is unpextected!!**" Random-Blitzwing cackled.

Bee stopped, and I jumped out, landing on the pavement. Bee transformed.

I watched as a small figure jumped out of Blitzwing, and _he_ transformed.

"Prepare to die, Autobot!!" Hothead-Blitzwing yelled, and opened fire upon poor Bee.

I didn't know what the other Autobots were doing, but it didn't matter, because Karr was approaching me.

She was wearing a new pair of black leggings, a black tank top and black army boots. It tore my heart in two to see her again, my _very_ best friend.

"Oh Karr…" I whispered, but I was on guard. "Don't come any closer!" I warned her.

She stopped about a yard (three feet) from me. She looked unhappy. "Ella, I'm really sorry…I didn't realise before…"

"Realise _what_?" I wanted to know.

"Why you didn't want to change sides!" She cried." Oh Ella, I'm _so_ sorry! I should've known why you didn't want to leave it!"

I hated to see her like this. "Karr," I cried, closing a few feet between us. "_What_ are you talking about!?"

She looked so upset, that I closed the last few steps between us and took her by the shoulders. I shook her. "Karr!"

"Blitzwing and I are spark-mates." She said softly.

My heart seemed to stop.

Around me, everything seemed unimportant. The only words that registered were 'Karr and Blitzwing are spark-mates'.

Spark partners. Bonded. Joined. Two halves that make up a whole.

It was…

"That's great, isn't it?" I whispered, and then I remembered what she had said. "But how does that apply to me?"

She sighed. "Well, _obviously_ you've found _yours_ as well, haven't you!?" Typical Karr. She changed moods about as much as…

Oh.

"Karr…" I began, as things exploded around us. And then I noticed _it_. My necklace. The beautiful silver star. "Karr…my necklace..?"

"Oh, this?" She took it off from around her neck and held it out to me. "El, I know what it means to you…at least I _think_ do." Karr can be unpredictable at times. Here she was being sympathetic. "Here," She said, holding it out. "Take it."

I hesitated.


	29. He’s Here – At Last…

CHAPTER ELEVEN

He's Here – At Last…

***

Karr looked at me. "Ella?"

I shook my head. "Karr…do you know…I have the All-Spark in me?"

She nodded impatiently. "Of course I know that!" She exclaimed.

"And the Decepticons are trying to kill me!" I cried, my voice rising.

Karr looked shocked for a second, and then she cried: "No, they're not!"

I gasped. "Astrotrain tried to hit me!" I informed her.

"He wasn't trying to kill you!" She said vehemently, shaking her head back and forth. "El, it would take a lot more to kill you! In fact," She added, turning seriously suddenly. "Do you and your Autobots know that…"

Suddenly, a stray missile came whooshing through the air toward us.

"**KARR**!!" Blitzwing shouted.

I lunged forward, and crashed tackled Karr, pushing her away, pushing us both away, and up.

I found myself clinging to one wall as I grabbed Karr around the waist, and pushing away from that building.

I jumped onto another wall, and then onto a building roof, where Karr and I both landed in a heap.

We scrambled up. I was gasping.

"El!" Karr cried.

"It must be the All-Spark…" I answered her, staring at my hands. 'Or else I'm Spiderman…' I thought numbly. 'I'm a freak. A freak among freaks...'

My necklace lay on the floor, and I scrambled to get it, holding it close to my chest.

Someone very precious gave it to me…but I wasn't so sure it was my father anymore.

Something was coming...no, _someone_.

And he was coming in fast...

***

I didn't know how I had clung to that wall, and made my way onto the top of a building but, suddenly, it didn't matter.

A harrier jet flew toward us, and my heart began to beat faster.

Something welled up inside of me, stronger than I've ever felt before. I gasped.

"IT'S STARSCREAM!!" I heard one of my Autobot friends yell.

"STARSCREAM!!" Megatron shouted, from where he was battling against Optimus Prime. The fight looked pretty even to me. "GET THE ALL-SPARK!!"

"WITH PLEASURE!!" Starscream shouted, as he transformed, and suddenly my whole world turned upside down.

Everything that I'd thought before came crashing down – and a painful memory came crashing back to me.

***

_"Don't hurt him!!"_

_"He's a Decepticon, Ella, he's evil!!"_

_"Arcee, take Ella inside!!"_

_"No!! Starscweam!! STARSCWEAM!!!!"_

***

I came snapping back to reality in an instant. "STARSWCEAM!!!!" I shouted, felling my heart ache painfully. I had waited so long to meet him, why should I meet him under such terrible circumstances. When he'd been ordered to _kill_ me, and I couldn't let that happen.

Why couldn't I say his name correctly?

Why did I want to say it again?

"STARSCWEAM!!!!"

I had never been able to say it correctly.

I hoped it wouldn't matter.


	30. I Don't Understand

CHAPTER TWELVE

I Don't Understand

***

The pain in my chest was evident in my words, as Starscream transformed and landed, his bright red optics glowing.

He was even better than I'd imagined him to be. In the cartoon, he was really cool.

In real life…I can't even begin to explain it. You'd have to see it to believe it.

Everything had gone still around us, because Starscream had one hand wrapped tightly around yours truly. How he had picked me up so fast, no one knew. Distantly, I heard Bumblebee calling to me, unable to save me from the oncoming death.

My hazel eyes stared into his red optics, and I began to breath heavily. "S-Star…s…s…scweam!" I was frustrated. I couldn't say his name correctly, and I knew not why. It was so God damn FRUSTRATING! I can't even say my favourite Decepticon's name properly!

He was staring at me like he'd seen a ghost. "Oh Primus, no…" He muttered.

I stared up at him, tears threatening to overflow my eyes. My mouth hung open, maybe never to close again.

We stared at each other for an infinite stretch of time. Hazel eyes locked with red optics, neither of us moving, save for my shuddering gasps. The pain in my arms had seemingly vanished, or maybe I had gone numb.

I didn't know.

It didn't matter.

"_Starscream has the All-Spark_!" Megatron cried. "_Decepticons, retreat_!"

"NO!!" That was Optimus Prime.

I barely heard them. Pain and wholeness was welling up in my chest, a feeling I'd hardly felt before, and I couldn't stop myself from crying out because of it.

"W-what is this!?" I gasped. I had seen Starscream before, that much was for certain. I'd seen him flying over the city last year and, until now, I hadn't seen him again. Here he was now, about to kill me.

But…why did it mean so much to me to see him?

Unless…

Suddenly, the All-Spark began to glow and burn brighter and hotter in my chest then ever before, once I'd embraced the fact. And I lost control of the power in an instant.

I tilted my head back in a silent scream and, suddenly, bright blue light burst forth from my chest, creating a pillar from the ground to the sky, and causing Starscream to let go of me.

"Ella!?" He cried.

"ELLA!!" Bee shouted from somewhere far away.

"Ella!" Was that Karr, or Chromia?

It didn't matter. I had lost control of the greatest power known to Transformer-kind, and there was nothing I could do to regain control of it.

The blue light burned.


	31. In Blue

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

In Blue

***

Later on, I would come to understand exactly what happened that night. I would find out, on my own, why the All-Spark had reacted so violently to the thought I'd began to grasp. And I just hoped that it would never happen again, but I wasn't counting on it.

The light was burning bluer and brighter than it had ever appeared to me before, and presently questions began to form in my mind.

_Will this ever end?_

_Why isn't it hurting me?_

…_Is it hurting everyone ELSE!?_

_Why won't it stop?_

_Why is it doing this?_

_How did the All-Spark get into me in the first place?_

Presently, these questions began to form answers of themselves. I realised that this ordeal would only end when I _willed_ it to – but I had some things to learn, first.

I wanted some answers. Like how the All-Spark had become a part of me. I was trying to think back to when I was younger, to see if I could remember anything. That memory from before had come crashing into me, and I had no idea what it meant. Unless…

Had I know Transformers before, when I was younger? It would make sense…seeing as I had the All-Spark within me.

But _how_?

And _why_?

Why did I have the most powerful power in the universe within me? I didn't even know how to _control_ it! Who the hell had decided that I'd get it?

Was it…Primus?

"_That is correct, sparkling under my protection_."

The voice sounded _huge_, and it was coming from within my mind. My eyes were closed by that stage though, so I had no trouble seeing the one who took shape behind my eyes.

He _was_ big. Bigger than any Transformer I had ever seen before. You really don't know _how _big big IS until you've seen a robot god.

I know I was staring.

Primus' optics were blue, the exact same colour as the All-Spark. I was floating in mid-air about three feet away from his huge, kind face, and I could see myself reflected in his optics.

My face was distressed. My hands were clasped against my chest tightly, and my eyes were filled with tears.

"_Milord_," I was surprised by how echo-y my voice sounded here. "_I do not know how to control what is inside of me. I feel that I am becoming a burden to my friends by not being able to help them!_"

"_My sparkling_," Primus said, speaking very gently. "_The All-Spark was placed in your care for a very important reason._"

He didn't say anything else.

I grew impatient. "_Be-caaauuuse_..?" I moved my hands in the 'hurry up' sign.

Primus' chuckled. "_You are impatient, young one, just as your mother was when I first met her._"

That stopped me. "_You knew my mother_?"

Primus' nodded. "_Yes, and her mother before her. You are very much like them, Ella, daughter of Ellaline._"

I didn't say anything.

"_Ella_," Primus' went on. "_You have a very dubious destiny awaiting you, one that can be shaped many different ways._"

I sighed. "_So what you're saying is that the war has just begun?_"

Primus' nodded. His optics glowed, and so did the star necklace that had returned to its rightful place around my neck.

"_This star is a __**key**__ that will help you discover some secrets about your past, my sparkling_." I liked how Primus' kept calling me that, it made me feel very safe.

"_But can't you just tell me_?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "_No, Ella, these things you must remember for yourself. You can do it, I know you can._"

I nodded. I understood.

"_We will speak again, Ella_."

I smiled. And I opened my eyes.


	32. Part Two Epilogue

PART TWO

Epilogue

***

As soon as I opened my eyes, I felt a hollow, empty feeling crash into me like a freight train. My insides seemed to constrict, and I looked around my room in a panic.

My gaze swept across them all – Bulkhead, Ratchet, Prowl, Optimus, Sunny, Sides', Chromia, Glyph, Rosanna and Flare-Up. All in their holoforms.

And someone was missing.

My heart began to thud so painfully, I thought it might grow wings and take flight right out of my bandaged-up chest. I was starting to panic, and the others could tell, but they made no moves to calm me down, allowing me to make the first step.

"Where. Is. He?" I asked, in a tight voice. I would not relax until I knew he was safe.

Which he was not.

"The Decepticons took him," Rosanna said softly, not quite looking at me. "I'm so sorry, Ella…"

But all I heard were 'the Decepticons took him'.

Bee had been kidnapped – he was in the hands of the _Decepticons_.

He was a hostage.

_Bumblebee_…

"_Then why are we just standing around here_!!??" I yelled, pushing the covers back and swinging my legs over the side of my bed. "_Why aren't we out there hunting them down_!!??" I stood up, took half a step, and then stumbled, right into Prowl's arms because he was the closest. I gasped in pain.

"There's your reason right there," Prowl said quietly, guiding me back over to my bed.

"Oh for spark's sake…" Ratchet grumbled. "I didn't just spend four hours _lying_ to that glitch downstairs and pretending to be some earth doctor just so you could injure yourself further! Now _back to bed_!" He fairly shouted, but I could see worry etched onto his old face and, for that reason only, I allowed Prowl to help me back into the bed.

Then I buried my face in my hands and wept, resting my forehead against Prowl's chest. He tensed for a moment, before putting his arms across my shoulders in a comforting way, and the others came forward too to offer words of comfort.

But all I could think was: _It's all my fault_.

Which it was.


	33. Part Three Prologue

PART THREE

Prologue

***

_Bumblebee's P.O.V:_

_I was in a lot of pain, being tortured and all, but I couldn't let any of that show through. Because Soundwave was recording the entire thing, and this would all be channelled back to where Ella was. Right now, she (hopefully) only feared I was suffering._

_If she had any idea what was going on right now, then she'd never forgive herself._

_I couldn't stand to see the pain on her face, the tears of anguish at my own suffering rolling down her face. Her hazel eyes would be green in appearance, as they always were when she cried._

_I focused on El the way she was when she was happy, laughing and full of light, life and love._

_The 'L' word had slipped out when I was talking about her, and she heard me say it._

_I hoped she knew…what I meant._

_And why I'd said it._

_Megatron himself suddenly came, during my endless cycles of pain, and dealt me a whole heap of pain, blinding red._

_"DON'T YOU WANT YOUR BELOVED ELLA TO COME AND FIND YOU!!??" Megatron shouted, as the pain cut through me, burning into my very spark, but I was more angry at Megatron._

_I looked up at him. "Go to the smelting pit, Decepticon." I spat energon that was leaking from my mouth at him._

_Megatron let out a furious yell, and slammed his sword straight into my chest plate. "SAY THAT YOU WANT YOUR BELOVED SPARK-PARTNER TO COME AND FIND YOU, WORTHLESS AUTOBOT!!!!"_

_"NO EL!!!! STAY AWAY – DON'T COME!!!!" I shouted. 'But…at the same time…I can't stand the thought of dying without seeing you again…one last time…'_

_Through the pain, I wondered how Megatron had known it._

_About El and I._


	34. Preparations

CHAPTER ONE

Preparations

***

I sat there, staring at the wall, as the communication faltered and died out. Everyone else was staring at Chromia, who had broadcasted the communication through MP3 Player speakers, and was now resuming her holoform.

Absentmindedly, I played with Saphira's ears, tweaking them back and forth with my left hand. Saphira was being very patient about this. My right hand held an empty mug.

"Well," Glyph broke the silence. "What are we going to do?"

I looked at her. "Do?" I repeated. "Well, we're going to go and rescue Bee, of course!" Just saying it filled me with more strength then the cup of coffee I'd just consumed did. Bee was in danger, and we _had_ to save him.

Absolutely.

Optimus shook his head. "El, for all we know, this could be a trap…"

"Of _course_ it's a trap!" I exclaimed. "The Decepticons are after the All-Spark – and they're using Bee as bait to lure me in!"

Bulkhead gave me an odd look. "But…we can't just give the Decepticons what they want…can we?" I could tell he missed Bee as well, after all, they are best friends. I knew I could get Bulkhead on my side, if I just wheedled hard enough.

Prowl said: "Of course we can't – El and the All-Spark are under our protection. We cannot afford to forget our mission; we can't fail here. The future of Cybertron _depends_ on it!" It was the longest speech I'd ever heard him say.

Apparently, he'd always been a bot of few words, because the others were looking at him in surprise.

And I remembered then how Prowl had failed to protect the protoforms from Lockdown…which he also didn't know about the latter…

Hmm.

"Prowl," I said carefully. "You won't have failed me, anymore then what you failed _him_." Prowl tensed. The others regarded me curiously. "And, anyway, I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, so you won't have to worry, since you're _coming_, and therefore can be there to protect me." I did my best to send him a Look that said 'I know about your past', and I think he understood because he nodded after awhile.

"Chromia," I said, turning to face her now. "Can you trace the signal from that transmission?" She nodded. "Good, well then…"

"Hold on!" Optimus interrupted me. "I haven't given my permission yet! Have we stopped to think about what would happen to El if we _did_ go there?"

"I will not let them lay their servos on her," Prowl promised, speaking very clearly.

"I'm looking forward to offlining Sideways this time!" Sides' said, and his twin brother grinned.

"I just wanna rescue Bumblebee." Bulkhead admitted.

"Me too, buddy," I told him. "Not to mention Karr…" My hand came up to touch the star necklace that was now secured around my neck. What had Primus' meant by what he'd said?

"_Nobody_ will be rescuing _anybody_ until Ella's injuries have healed," Ratchet suddenly said gruffly, and we all turned to look at him.

"And when will that be, doc?" I asked him.

"In about two days, I should think." Ratchet responded, nodding to himself. "And try not to _move_ so much _until_ then." He added.

"Yes sir!" I saluted. Ratchet glowered at me.

"But, El?" Glyph spoke up. "What about school?"

"Yeah, and Fran, and the terror twins?" Flare-Up added.

I smiled. "Already got that sorted out. Our school just began a two-week break to prepare for term two. Yesterday was just sort of a 'party' day. And guess what my step-family does for the two week break?"

"What?" Everyone but Rosanna asked, because she already knew.

"They go to Europe."

"_Europe_!?" The others exclaimed.

Rosanna nodded. "El usually invited Karr around for those two weeks, they went shopping with Jass, and she spoke to Josh on the phone."

"Who?" Prowl asked, but Optimus cut him off. "I suppose we could go and rescue Bumblebee, and still make it back…I'll see if I can contact Cybertron and call for reinforcements…"

"What?" I asked him, my eyes wide. "You mean _Sentinel_ _Prime_?"

Optimus didn't look too happy either, but he said: "Yes, El, that's what I had in mind."

"I suppose if Jazz and Ultra Magnus were with him too…what about Blurr..?" I thought of the lightning fast blue Autobot, and then it came crashing toward me.

Blurr gets killed in the TV series.

So does Prowl.

And Starscream.

I looked at Prowl, and he was looking at me. I felt light-headed just thinking about the nature-loving bot not being there.

To distract myself, I asked Chromia where the transmission had come from.

"Just let me work on it," She said. "There's a code in here I need to break, but it's nothing I can't handle." She promised. "Don't worry El-Bell, just get better."

I nodded.

I wondered where we would be going.

***

_Optimus Prime's P.O.V:_

_"Uh-oh…" I said. I was back at the base, with Chromia and Glyph, and I'd just discovered something that was going to put a spanner in our plans for sure._

_"What?" The two fems asked in unison._

_I stared at the crackling, blurry screen, and said: "The communications network is down – I can't contact anyone who isn't on earth…"_

_"Oh slag…" Glyph muttered._

***

_Unknown P.O.V:_

_I had been searching for the Decepticon base for some time now. I had been hunting, gathering information._

_And I'd just picked up a transmission from them, which would allow me to find them if I could break the code._

_Nothing I couldn't do, I'd have it done faster than lightning._

***

_Another Unknown P.O.V:_

_I didn't know who I was, or where I was, or even what I was supposed to be doing._

_I'd been born out of the blue light, and so here I was._

_But where was here?_

_"Excuse me miss…" I began._

_The small, female creature stared up at me, and then screamed. She turned and ran away as fast as she could, running around the corner and out of sight._

_I stared sadly after her. I had just wanted to know who I was._

_Sighing, I transformed, and drove off in the other direction, in search of someone who could tell me who I was._


	35. Through The Barricade

CHAPTER TWO

Through The Barricade

***

"Oh Ella…" Flare-Up said sympathetically.

"All your beautiful drawings…" Rosanna looked angry.

"Not to mention her mum's jewellery." Sunny was leaning against the wall, as I showed them the damage that had been done to my not-so-secret stash of stuff. All of my Transformers Animated drawings had been ripped up and thrown in the fire by Fran, although some had been left, probably to torture me even further. Not that anything Fran could do to me would be _worse_ than if anything bad happened to Bee…I mean, even worse than it already had, because of me.

My jewellery was all gone.

"Hey, El, who was this a picture of?" Sides' held up one, and pointed to the Transformer's red optics. "A Decepticon?"

"Umm…no…" I lied. "Just…no…" It was, in fact, a picture of Starscream, but I wasn't about to say that to _them_. Sunny was looking at me like he didn't believe me.

"Oh well, it's torn up anyway." Sides' looked a little happy about that, as he transferred the picture back to the floor.

"Just like the rest of them," Rosanna looked annoyed.

I nodded sadly.

"Oh well," Flare-Up said, a little too loudly, and we all looked at her. She was staring out the window. "It's time we got to work anyway – we have a lot to do in these next two days, so we'd better get to it." She headed for the door, and turned around when she reached it. "You bots coming?"

The others nodded, and left with her, to go downstairs probably to where Ratchet, Prowl and Bulkhead were. Oh, except for Rosanna, she stayed to help me get dressed, because I was still feeling a little bit sore, but I wasn't going to laze around in bed all day!

I put on a yellow sun dress with a black bow on the back, brushed my hair and teeth (I'd already eaten breakfast in bed, which made me feel like a hospital patient) and went downstairs with Rosanna.

Everyone else was waiting for us in the kitchen, except for Ratchet, whom I assumed had gone over to the base (leaving me in the car of _these_ guys?).

The Lambo twins looked at me when I entered.

"Heeeey, nice!" Sunny commented.

I glanced down at my yellow and black ensemble, and then at Sunny, who was wearing a yellow jacket with a black t-shirt and black jeans.

"Damn it!" I cursed. I was just debating whether or not to run upstairs and get changed or not, when there was a knock on the door.

We all looked toward the front hall.

"Now who could that be?" Flare-Up wondered.

"El had better answer it, since she's the only one who's supposed to be here." Rosanna said sensibly, and so I got up to answer the door.

I took about three steps and nearly fell over. "Ah, a little help here, bots?" I asked, and Prowl came over to me, took me by the arm, and walked with me into the front hall.

"What if it's trouble?" I whispered suddenly.

"I don't know." Prowl whispered back.

Together we opened the door.

***

_Somebody's P.O.V:_

"_OH MY GOD, IT'S A GIANT ROBOT!!!!"_

"_IT'S __**HUGE**__!!!!"_

"_IT'S A TRANSFORMER – COOL!!"_

"_What is a Transformer?" I wanted to know, reaching toward the small male creature who had spoken. But a taller female creature standing beside him grabbed him and began running away from me. I ran after them, because I really wanted to know who I was._

_But why were they all running from me?_

***

"El!" Jass was standing on the front doorstep, looking pretty snazzy in running shorts and a singlet. Both Prowl and I breathed sighs of relief. "What happened, are you okay?"

As she embraced me, and the others came out from the kitchen to see her, I yelped – she'd hurt me ribs.

At once, Rosanna was by my side. "Are you okay?" She asked anxiously.

I gave her a weird look. "Of course – my chest just hurts, that's all." I looked back at Jass. In the confusion of before, we had forgotten all about her. But, apparently, she hadn't forgotten about us. She'd seen the blue light, and put two and two together.

We sat in the living room, and told Jass about what had happened. Mostly, I did the talking, since it was my story.

"So then I lost control of the All-Spark, and blacked out for a few hours." I admitted, staring at my hands. The right one was throbbing – the one that was more robot than the rest of me. "We only just managed to get away, but Bumblebee…he…" I broke off abruptly, and bowed my head even more, feeling tears threatening to escape. If anything should happen to him…I would never, ever forgive myself. "The Decepticons got him." I whispered.

Jass was silent, as Rosanna put her arm around my shoulders in a comforting gesture. At last she said: "What can we do?"

"Glyph and Chromia are tracking a signal we received from the Decepticons earlier this morning," Prowl said quietly. "As soon as they finish doing that…" He glanced at me. "We'll go and rescue Bumblebee."

"What – all of you?" Jass looked surprised.

"Well, not _all_ of us…" Prowl admitted. "We haven't gotten that far in the planning stage yet."

"I see…" Jass thought about this for a moment. "Well, if there's anything I can do to help…but, wait, El, you're rostered on for the next two weeks. And the health and safety inspector's making a "surprise" visit next week."

I glanced up. "How did you find out about that?" I wanted to know. _Fran picked a bad time to visit Paris…_ I thought.

Jass shrugged in a way that meant 'I have my ways'. "I have my ways." She informed us all. (Aha!)

"Well, someone can fill in for me," I said, thinking of Chromia. "The fems can almost entirely imitate me and my looks." I told Jass.

She looked impressed. "Cool – and I'll be happy to lie to Fran if she rings, which she most likely _will_."

I grinned at Jass. She's always been like a sister to me.

My thoughts were interrupted by Jass's mobile phone ringing. She answered it, and was silent for a few seconds, before hanging up and going to turn on the TV.

We all watched her; unsure of what was going on but startled by her sudden urgency.

Channel Ten news was on, with a special live bulletin.

"A giant _robot_ was been seen terrorizing citizens in Cockburn Central, near Gateways Shopping Centre," The presenter said. She looked shocked. "We go _live_ to the scene now, where witnesses are trying to piece together what on earth is going on!"

Jass, Sunny, Sides', Rosanna, Flare-Up, Prowl, Bulkhead and I were silently staring at the TV screen in horror, as images began to flood in.

"IT WAS _HUGE_!!" One man shouted.

"IT THREATENED MY SON!!" A woman screamed.

"_No Mum, it was a Transformer_!!" A kid in an Optimus Prime t-shirt cried.

"Well duh." Sunny rolled his eyes.

"It flattened my car!" One man was outraged. "Who's gonna pay for that!? My insurance company? Yeah right!"

"All of my shopping was in my car, and the robot destroyed it!" A woman wearing old, worn-out clothes sobbed.

"It was scary!!" A little girl clinging to her mother's arms exclaimed.

"This is easily a hundred times cooler than Armageddon, I swear to God!" A fat kid with a camera phone shouted, as he ran past the TV cameras for a better shot. The police officers held him back.

I suddenly noticed a familiar-looking man, and thought: _Huh…what's he doing here? I didn't even know he existed…but he's standing next to the Fanzone look-alike, so…and…oh no, HE'S here too! No!_

"Is it a Decepticon?" Rosanna murmured, breaking my train of thought.

"Probably…" Bulkhead responded vaguely.

Then, the camera switched to show a shot of the actual robot, and I yelled, jumping out of my seat, forgetting my pain. "THAT'S NO DECEPTICON – THAT'S WRECK-GAR!!!!"

"_Who_!?" Everyone else cried, except for Rosanna, who suddenly remembered, and jumped to her feet.

"Oh no, Wreck-Gar!" She gasped.

"Who's Wreck-Gar!?" Sunny wanted to know.

"No time to explain!" I cried, running toward the door. The news presenter had just been talking about calling in air-strikes. "Call Prime! That's Wreck-Gar and he needs our help! NOW!!"

***

I was sitting on the motorcycle known as Prowl, gripping the seat with my knees and holding onto the handlebars so tightly my knuckles turned white, but Prowl didn't complain. I had just finished explaining to him – and the others, who were listening on an open com-link – about how the power of the All-Spark might have created other Transformers, like Wreck-Gar and Scrapper and, in the long shot, the Dinobots.

"Poor Wreck-Gar has no idea who he is or even _what_ he is!" I said, as we took a bend in the road dangerously, and I was thankful for the borrowed helmet nestled on my head. "That's why he needs our help!"

"Prime said he'd meet us there," Prowl assured me. "But how do you plan to help this stray 'bot anyway?"

I shook my head. "Prowl, I really have no idea…oh no!" I cried suddenly, looking ahead.

***

_Bumblebee's P.O.V:_

"_Trouble in Perth, Lord Megatron." Blackout said._

_Megatron didn't look too happy. He knew that any trouble in Perth was likely to involve Ella, and he needed her – and the All-Spark – in one piece if he was going to do the unthinkable._

_Blackout hacked into a computer and, as we watched, a screen was displayed, showing a large Transformer causing mayhem in Perth, near to where Ella lives._

'_Wreck-Gar…' I realised, staring wide-opticed at the screen._

"_He's not wearing a faction symbol." Lugnut declared._

"_Oh, well spotted Lugnut." Megatron said dryly._

_Blackarachnia, the only fem-bot in the Decepticon ranks – and I hear she's Prime's dead partner who isn't really dead – stepped forward. "I don't recognise him, and he's doing things that Autobots __don't do__. There's no way that thing's with them."_

_Megatron paused, and then looked at me. "You – Autobot!"_

_I glanced at him, arranging my face into an 'I don't care' expression._

"_Do you recognise this creature?" Megatron gestured to the screen, where Wreck-Gar was being harassed by some helicopters._

"_Like I'd tell __you__ that, Mega-Loser!" I replied. I knew I was going to regret that, but right now that was the __last__ thing on my processor. 'El likes Wreck-Gar…she's going to do whatever it takes to protect him…I just hope she doesn't get herself hurt…'._

_The last thing I remember hearing before I blacked out was Megatron telling Blitzwing and Lugnut to go and investigate._

_I knew it wouldn't take them long at all to get to Perth. Oh Primus, Ella…_

***

"A police blockade…" I whispered, staring at the police cruisers parked there, so no one could get through. A barricade was set up to prevent anyone from walking through but, as we watched, a fire engine and an ambulance were allowed through.

We doubled back quickly, out of sight, to wait for Prime and the others.

"That's it!" Said Jass, who had come along with Bulkhead (whose alt mode _is_ an armoured vehicle, but it looks cool so no one really questions it). "As soon as Optimus and Ratchet get here, they'll be allowed through. El can sneak in there with them – I think she's the only one who can talk to Wreck-Gar."

"Yeah, since she was the one who, like, _created_ him." Bulky said.

I flinched. "Don't…ever…say that…ever…again." I told him.

"Sorry." He said, just as Prime and Ratchet arrived, pulling into the side road where we were.

Quickly, we explained to them the situation, and I hopped into the fire engine that was Optimus Prime.

"Oh, but we have to be careful," I added, as I tentatively buckled my seatbelt. My chest was starting to hurt a bit. "I saw on the news that _Barricade_ was there – he's right up the front."

"Hmm…" Optimus said. "I wonder what _he's_ doing here…"

"We'll find out…" I whispered, as the _real_ police officers let us through the barricade…


	36. Taken

CHAPTER THREE

Taken

***

Optimus and Ratchet drove to where they were supposed to go. With Rosanna, Flare-Up and Chromia with me, I climbed out of the fire-truck, followed by Optimus' holoform, and we walked over to Ratchet's holoform.

"Oh Wreck-Gar…" I whispered, as everyone was shooting at him or screaming. "He must be so confused…" Tears welled in my eyes, but then I dismissed them. "Prime, Ratchet – I am going in!"

Ratchet didn't look pleased. "I just spent three hours bandaging you up…"

"And I'm grateful for it!" I called, for I was already running, and wishing I had taken off my helmet but, as I ran, I realised it was a good thing.

I was running toward Wreck-Gar, and people began gasping and screaming as I jumped over a police fence, hurdle-style.

"STOP HER!!" Someone yelled.

"Help girls!" I cried frantically. My chest was killing me – I really couldn't afford any distractions.

Flare-Up, Chromia and Rosanna (in that order) suddenly assumed their robot forms as they jumped out of my hands, and landed on the ground, placing themselves between me and the police officers.

I didn't look back for very long though, as I kept on running, but now I faced a new trial.

The ground was shattered and cracked, just like in the Transformers movie game for the DS, when you jump. I had to scramble a bit, and I thought my chest was going to explode from the stress of it all. I was glad I was wearing shoes; there was so much shattered glass everywhere.

A little voice in my mind told me that I need to get up high, to get Wreck-Gar's attention, but of course there was nowhere to climb.

"Now what?" I looked around frantically.

An explosion suddenly made me look at Wreck-Gar, whose arm was showering sparks where he'd just been shot.

"NO!!" I shouted, and leapt for the nearest wall. The screams and cries of the people around me echoed in my ears as I clung to the wall and began to scramble up it, feeling like spider man or monkey. Wreck-Gar's cries of pain filled my ears to the point where the scream became my own, and I pushed myself away from the wall, flinging myself toward him. "WRECK-GAR!!!!"

I landed with a thud, on Wreck-Gar's palm.

I gasped, and sat there, looking at him dazed.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!!" Someone shouted.

"Excuse me miss," Wreck-Gar looked at me, confused. "But what did you just call me?"

I was breathing heavily and, for a moment, I couldn't reply, but then I stood up shakily, and looked right at him. "Wreck-Gar." I said clearly. "That is your name; that is who you are."

Wreck-Gar looked thrilled. "And, perhaps, could you tell me why I am here!?" His blue optics were alight with excitement. He finally knew his name!

"Umm…you're here because I created you, so to speak…" I muttered.

"Uh-huh." Wreck-Gar nodded. "How did you do that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know…" It was very frustrating, too. What I wouldn't give for a manual or something. "I really need a…DUCK!!!!" I suddenly shouted, and a duckling appeared in my hands, but that wasn't the point.

Blitzwing and Lugnut had just flown in, and Lugnut had fired a shot at Wreck-Gar! It hit him on the back of the head, and he turned around. "Who are they!?" He cried, rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"They're the bad guys," I cried, holding onto the duck and onto Wreck-Gar. "They're trying to capture and kill me!"

"VE ARE NOT TRYING TO KILL YOU!!!!" Hothead-Blitzwing shouted.

"WHERE'S KARR!?" I yelled back, as Wreck-Gar dodged more cannon fire.

"**SHE DECIDED NOT COME**!!!!" Random-Blitzwing responded, cackling and firing at us.

"Wreck-Gar can't take much more of this!" I gasped. "He needs help, uh, OPTIMUS!!!!" I shouted.

People who hadn't screamed before screamed _now_, as the fire truck and the ambulance transformed into Optimus Prime and Ratchet, respectively. Optimus crash-tackled Blitzwing in mid-air, swinging his axe and coming _this_ close to cutting off Cold-Blitzwing's face. I had to flinch, and I wanted to yell at him to be careful with Karr's spark-mate. I knew she'd freak if anything happened to her Blitzy.

Ratchet, meanwhile, had used his powers that only work on metal to take control of Lugnut.

He slammed Lugnut into a wall.

Blitzwing punched Optimus in the face, and I'm so glad Optimus had his face-plate up.

"Why are they fighting?" Wreck-Gar wanted to know.

I turned to look at him, feeling the white helmet heavy on my head. "Because they're on opposite sides! Blitzwing and Lugnut want to kill me,"

"VE DO NOT!!!!"

"Do too! Anyway, they're against the ones who want to protect me." I pointed out Chromia, Flare-Up and Rosanna, who had been joined by Glyph in keeping the police officers and other people at bay. I spotted the familiar-looking Indian man standing next to the Faren Zanders, and I realised that the battle might be getting out of hand.

People might get hurt.

Heck, _I_ might get hurt!

"Wreck-Gar," I said quickly. "You need to decide whose side you're going to be on." He was looking at me. "I can't make the decision for you." I held the duckling in my arm. I had no idea where he'd gotten it from, but it was making small peeping sounds. "Are you an Autobot, like they are," I gestured to Optimus and Ratchet, who were standing back-to-back, to take on the new wave of attacks. "Or aren't you? Autobot or not, Wreck-Gar, I know you can decide it!"

Well, maybe he could've – if we hadn't suddenly been picked up by a white harrier jet and carried off somewhere.

Just great.


	37. Truth That Lies

CHAPTER FOUR

Truth That Lies

***

I opened my eyes to find myself lying on the ground. The duckling was pecking on my helmet, which made me get up in a hurry.

I looked over to where Wreck-Gar was.

He appeared to be conversing with a white Decepticon. His wings were maroon. I gasped, because I recognized him.

I ran across the grass on the banks of the Swan River. "Wreck-Gar!" I cried.

He turned toward me. "Oh, there you are creator! This guy was just saying that…"

"Don't you _dare_ listen to anything _he_ says!" I cried angrily. "That's Ramjet! He's a Decepticon, and a pathological _liar_ at that!" What I was wondering was: _HOW ON EARTH IS HE CREATED!!?? Does that mean Skywarp, Sunstorm, Thundercracker and Slipstream are too!? Oh God no…_

"I am not!" Ramjet cried, and I rolled my eyes.

"What are you going to do to Wreck-Gar?" I asked suspiciously. I didn't like the way Ramjet was standing, the angle of his sonic shock blasters, and the hidden arm lasers…

Ramjet smiled. "Well, for starters, I'm _not_ going to kill him because he's of some use to us…"

I gasped. "Ramjet, no!! Don't kill him!!"

"Okay, I won't." Ramjet was full-on smirking now.

"_Ramjet_!!" I wailed. Had I saved Wreck-Gar from the police, just for him to be killed by one of Starscream's clones? "How can you just decide to _kill_ him like that!?"

"Oh, very well then," Ramjet sighed. "_You_ decide how he should die." He sort of glared at me.

I gulped. I knew Ramjet probably wouldn't harm me yet. There was a part of him that reminded me of Starscream…hmm…

"I'm waiting patiently." Ramjet said.

"Yikes," I whispered, and looked at Wreck-Gar. If I could just buy us some time, maybe just few more minutes, then I was sure that the other Autobots could find us.

Then, as if to make matters worse, a purple harrier jet streaked overhead, and then transformed and landed before us.

I gasped.

"Haven't you got the job done yet!?" Thundercracker cried. "_I_ would have finished it by now!"

"Yes, you would've." Ramjet replied. He and Thundercracker both looked at me.

"Hey, she's almost as cute as I am." Thundercracker said, and I rolled my eyes. _Yeah, this one's DEFINITELY more Starscream…idiot…_

"Hurry up and decide how he should die!" Ramjet said to me.

"Then I can capture her and take her to Starscream!" Thundercracker proclaimed.

"_I'm_ the real Starscream!" Ramjet cried.

"You are _not_!" Thundercracker and I both cried in unison.

"Umm…can I say something?" Wreck-Gar spoke up.

"No!" Thundercracker shouted. He was getting annoyed.

"Decide how he should die!" Ramjet said to me.

I had to struggle to think, because of the pain in my chest, and the helmet was getting heavier it seemed. I quickly reached up and took it off, my wrist brushing against the star necklace around my neck. And, suddenly, like seeing Primus again, the most wonderful idea came to me. "Wreck-Gar," I said, looking at him without my helmet on for the first time (jeez, I feel like I am Lelouch). "We will play a game to decide how you will die. You may say one thing, and one thing only." I spoke very slowly, and clearly. My heart was pounding, and I'm sure they both could hear it. "If what you say is true, then Ramjet will crush your spark with his foot. If what you say is false, then Thundercracker will pulverize you with his plasma cannon."

There, I'd said it.

And Wreck-Gar was just staring at me in shock.

I knew that this was a huge risk, and it was the last thing I could think of to stall things. If it were Prowl, he'd know _exactly_ the right thing to say, what with that razor sharp processor of his. I knew the right answer.

But Wreck-Gar…

He was probably just in shock, because I was sentencing him to his death.

We just stood there, staring at each other, until finally I realised that Ramjet and Thundercracker might not wait too much longer. The duckling made small peeping sounds from where it was hiding, as I tapped my wrist pointedly.

Wreck-Gar looked at me, and then held up a braided bracelet. I groaned, and tapped my left wrist more pointedly.

Wreck-Gar's eyes lit up, and he threw me a watch.

"No!" I complained, hitting my hand to my forehead, and dodging the Kamikaze headband that Wreck-Gar now provided me with. In desperation, I pointed to Thundercracker.

What I was _trying_ to tell him was that if he said Thundercracker would pulverize him with his plasma cannon, then it would benefit us all when lies and truth became one. Because if the statement was true, then Ramjet would crush his spark, thus making the statement false. And, if the statement was false, then Thundercracker would pulverise him, thus making the statement _true_.

It was beautiful.

It was genius.

It was risky.

The wrong statement, and we were _both_ toast.

I stared at Wreck-Gar, _willing_ him to say the right thing. When he didn't say anything, I walked up to him, and rested my head against his leg in defeat. My necklace swung out toward him. My eyes welled up. I sighed. We were doomed.

At last, he opened his mouth. "Thundercracker will pulverise me with his plasma cannons?"

I looked up, startled, and then looked at Ramjet and Thundercracker. "_Well_!?" I cried. "Is the statement true or false!?"

Ramjet and Thundercracker exchanged a look.

"He said she was smart." Thundercracker murmured.

"She's not that smart." Ramjet replied. (I was quite flattered).

Wreck-Gar picked me up in his hand. "Did I say the right thing?" He wanted to know.

I nodded. "Yes. Yes you did." I smiled.

"Does this mean I'm an Autobot now?" He asked.

I looked shocked for a second, but then I laughed. "If you say so, Wrecky!"

"Now what do we do!?" Ramjet cried.

"I'll think of something!" Thundercracker snapped.

"Oh, of _course_ you will." Ramjet replied.

They were arguing when, quite suddenly, a yellow harrier jet dropped out of the sky, and transformed.

I gasped.

"What's taking you two so long?" Sunstorm wanted to know. He suddenly spotted me, staring at him in shock. "Hey, there she is! And isn't she the most beautiful person you've ever seen!?" He said. I just gaped. This was going to go downhill faster than a greased pig wearing jet-powered rocket skates. "Just let me take care of whoever this guy is, and we can take the lovely princess to our exalted leader!"

He aimed his plasma cannons at Wreck-Gar's spark.


	38. Life Goes On

CHAPTER FIVE

Life Goes On

***

I gasped.

Suddenly, an awesome-looking blue racing car sped into view, faster than I've seen a car go before in real life.

Somehow, I wasn't surprised when it transformed into Blurr, and stood before us, shield and saw glowing.

I should have known. Autobots and Decepticons had been appearing everywhere since I'd found out I was the courier for the All-Spark – it was like I was a Transformer magnet or something!

"It's Blurr!" I cried. "Oh, wow!" Blurr had always been a favourite of mine. He was fast – make that _super_ fast – and smart, as well as being able to talk like an auctioneer.

Blurr turned quickly to smirk at me, and then faced the three Starscream-clones. "I'll-have-these-three-beat-in-no-time!" And he began to battle.

Well, I watched the three Starscream-clones most of all, because I could barely see Blurr who was moving like a, well, like a _blur_.

I watched, knowing that he had blown his cover to rescue me, because he could tell I wouldn't leave Wreck-Gar to the mercy of the Decepticons, and Wreck-Gar couldn't keep up with Blurr.

Blurr, on the other hand, has no trouble moving faster than a Decepticon.

But, there were three of them, and only one of him, and they were strong. Well, of course, they're part Starscream. Blurr began to lose ground.

"Blurr!" I cried, as Ramjet inflicted a serious wound into Blurr's side.

"I'LLBEALRIGHTWHYDON'TYOURUN!!??" He shouted.

I turned to Wreck-Gar. "Wrecky, you _have_ to help him – he's gonna get killed!" There was no way I was going to leave Blurr at the mercy of the three Decepticons – I felt bad enough already about abandoning the others back at Gateways!

Wreck-Gar looked at me, and then at the battle.

"Please, help us." I begged him. "You're the only one who can do it! You can be…a hero!" I smiled.

"Okay…" He muttered, and then he seemed to gain some new momentum. "Okay!" He placed me on the ground, and then ran toward the battle, and began throwing things at the Decepticons. Heavy things like dressing tables and – I cringed – a baby grand piano. "I am Wreck-Gar," He said, punching Thundercracker in the face.

"Aurgh!" Thundercracker complained. "Is that all you got!?"

"Called Wrecky by my creator," Wreck-Gar went on, whilst binding Sunstorm up with some sort of sticky stuff.

"Oh, this bonding glue is _superb_, worthy advisari!" Sunstorm exclaimed.

"AND I AM AN AUTOBOT!!!!" Wreck-Gar finished, slamming those two Decepticons together. Thundercracker turned to attack Wreck-Gar but, by then, Blurr had gotten up, and punched Thundercracker in the face, knocking him back onto the road, and nearly destroying someone's ultra-cool black Lamborghini Gallerado. It was stylish.

Blurr was a blue blur again, moving faster and faster, dancing circles around the Decepticons, with Wreck-Gar throwing more hapless pianos at them. Now that they were equally matched, there was no stopping Blurr!

"Go Blurr!" I cheered. "Yeah, throw that dressing table, Wrecky!"

"Thank-you-for-your-support!" Blurr called to me, inflicting some damage into Thundercracker's arm with his saw.

"Is that all you got, Autobot!?" Thundercracker shouted, firing his plasma cannon at Blurr.

"No!" Blurr yelled, easily dodging the blast. "There's-PLENTY-more-where-THAT-came-from, Decepticon!" He had the prowess to back up his words.

Suddenly, a stray missile came sailing toward me. I gasped, grabbed the yellow duckling, and leapt out of the way, landing on the ground with a thud. The duck peeped miserably.

Suddenly, a huge shadow fell over us.

I looked up to find Ramjet standing over us.

"I don't see what Starscream sees in a human like you!" Ramjet told me. "So I'll take you to him since I don't want you for myself, weakling!"

It took me a second to remember who was talking, and what was the _truth_ of the words, and then I yelled: "OH GOD, NO!!" My chest chose that minute to hurt, and I cringed.

Suddenly, something black came flying out of nowhere, and Ramjet turned to attack whatever it was, only to find that it was Prowl's decoy.

The _real_ Prowl grabbed me and carried me away to safety, placing me down and then standing in front of me, shielding me from danger.

The duck and I peered around Prowl's leg.

"Out of the way Autobot!" Ramjet said. "I won't hurt her!"

"Be careful Prowl!" I hissed. "Everything this guy says is a lie!"

Prowl nodded, and faced Ramjet.

"Let me have the girl, and I promise to let you live." Ramjet said, smirking a little.

"Huh," Prowl replied, taking out his shuriken. "A promise from you is worth about as much as the energon it would've taken you to say that."

Ramjet looked annoyed. "And what are _you_ gonna do about it, Autobot?" He gestured to me. "What's she to you?"

"She is…" Prowl said. "Someone very important to me. And I have to protect her."

"INCOMING!!!!" Shouted Blurr's unmistakably fast voice, and we all looked to see some sort of massive projectile – possibly an Imperial German Scale Alex. Steinbach mixed with some sort of plasma fusion – heading our way.

Three beings I cared about where in the vicinity, a fourth was a possible candidate for care, not to mention three Starscream-clones who didn't deserve to be vaporized. Slagged, yes. But not like this.

The strange projectile suddenly seemed to stop in mid air, and then rise up a bit.

Prowl gasped. "It's drawing enough energy from around it to rise up high enough to cause a big enough explosion!"

"Oh Primus, _I've_ had enough!" I said angrily, and ran out from behind Prowl, throwing my right hand up as I did, and it began glowing.

I harnessed the All-Spark's energy to create a huge sphere around the time-bomb. It took a lot of energy out of me, and forced me onto one knee, as I held _both_ hands out to try and maintain the energy until we could figure out how to "disarm" the thing.

But it was still rising!

"If it keeps rising like this I won't be able to hold it!" I cried, unsure of how I was even holding it in the first place! "Prowl, help me!" I called over my shoulder.

A few seconds later, I heard a deep humming from behind me, and a good deal of the weight was lifted from my responsibility.

"How can we destroy it?" I wanted to know. Prowl's help was fantastic, but it wasn't enough to hold it here forever. I wasn't thinking of the Decepticons right then but, if I had been, then I would have seen two of them retreat.

Thundercracker had stayed behind, though. "I used a specially formulated plasma in that attack," He said, standing a good distance away and for good reasons, too. "It was designed to rise up and then, when it had gained a passenger," He glanced at Wreck-Gar. "Sink into the water and explode upon impact with the substance I _know_ called H2O."

"Thanks professor." I said icily. I glanced up at the glowing blue sphere around the dangerous mass. I was worried. "But who's gonna commit suicide by jumping in there to bring it down?"

Blurr was suddenly at my side. "I'll-do-it!" He said, very quickly, looking ready to jump to his death.

"You'll do no such thing!" I yelled. He startled, and looked at me in shock. Sweat was pouring down my face, as well as tears of exhaustion. "Blurr, I'm not gonna let you do that! You're not going! We'll find another way!" I added, but I was fast running out of ideas, and Blurr's had seemed like the very best one…but no! No, I wasn't going to allow it! Not Blurr! We'd only just met!

"There _is_ no other choice!" It wasn't Blurr who spoke, however. It was Wreck-Gar. He was standing there, wearing an Autobot symbol he'd gotten from nowhere.

I gasped. "Not you too, Wrecky! I've only just met you, as well! Neither of you are going!"

"He's not going, I am!" Wreck-Gar declared, his blue optics sparkling. "Thank you, creator! You have shown me that I too, can be a hero!" And he jumped into the glowing blue mass.

"NO!!" I shouted, and then my chest and head jerked up, as the mass plummeted toward the river.

It stopped about three inches from the water's surface!

"It's _still_ not enough!" I cried, unsure I was going to be able to keep this going for much longer. "Just…a little more – NO YOU DON'T BLURR!!" I yelled to the blue Elite Guard bot, who had been getting ready to jump in.

"But…"

"NO!!"

Suddenly, with a determined peep, the duckling I'd brought with me ran toward the glowing blue mass, spread its wings and jumped into the mass.

I gasped. "No…" I whispered, as the blue mass reached the H2O at last.

All was still for a few moments, and then the glowing blue mass imploded.

A small-scale shockwave was released afterwards, though, heading toward me and the mechs.

Blurr grabbed me and ran with me, with Prowl beside us, to safety, and both of them shielded me as the shockwave passed, and Thundercracker retreated into the sky.

We all looked at the river, where bits of debris were raining into the water.

At the same time, the rest of the Autobots showed up, to find that I had run to the edge of the river.

"Oh Primus no!" I yelled. "Ratchet, see if you can find Wreck-Gar!!"

Ratchet appeared by my side, and attempted to find any signs of the metal bot in the water. After about twenty seconds, Ratchet shook his head and deactivated his power. "Sorry kid…" He said.

"Oh no…" I whispered, glad that Jass was holding onto my arm otherwise I would have fainted. "Wrecky…and Kcud…"

"Kcud?" Chromia repeated.

I nodded. "The duckling…it helped too…"

Prowl frowned. "Would you _please_ stop naming things, El?"

I shook my head. "Someday you'll thank me, Prowler. Everyone needs a name…and Wreck-Gar…well, he died with a name. He died a _hero_." _The same as you have a slightly good chance of doing as well…_ I thought unhappily. _You too, Blurr…_ I added, silently.

"That's right, El." Optimus agreed with me.

I sighed.


	39. The Day Before

CHAPTER SIX

The Day Before

***

"So, lemme get this straight," Optimus said to Blurr. "You're an Autobot intelligence officer…and you found Megatron's hideout?"

"That-is-correct-Optimus-Prime!" Blurr said, and I tuned out around then.

Most of us were back at the Autobot base that night, and most of the Autobots were listening, or trying to listen, to what Blurr was telling them.

But not Rosanna and me. We'd heard it all before.

"Go Fish." I told Rosa, and she drew a card.

"Ha! I got a match!" She cried triumphantly.

"Well that's just great." I said, frowning.

"Oh, lighten up El," Rosa smiled at me. "We're going to rescue Bumblebee tomorrow!"

I brightened. "Oh yeah, that's right. I almost forgot."

"Hey, El?" I suddenly heard my name being called.

I looked up. "Yes?"

Optimus was speaking to me, and now most of them were looking at me. "El, what else do you know about…umm, about _us_? About Transformers, and Cybertron and all?"

I glanced at Rosa, and together we stood up. We walked over to the others, and Optimus lifted me up so that I could sit on a platform that was eye-level with about Ratchet. "Well, what would you like to know?" There's not a lot I _don't_ know about the TV show.

"What about these three new Decepticons?" Glyph asked.

"They're not really new," I informed them. "They're actually _clones_. Of Starscweam." I added quickly, and Optimus and Ratchet exchanged a glance.

"What are they like?" Flare-Up wanted to know.

"There's actually five of them," I said. "Ramjet's the white one, and he's a liar. Everything he says is a lie. Then there's Thundercracker, the purple one. He's an egomaniac."

"Kinda sounds like someone _else_ I know," Chromia muttered to Flare-Up, who snickered appreciatively.

I ignored them. "Then there's the suck-up. His name is Sunstorm, and he's the yellow one. And Skywarp. He's kind of grey and black. And I feel sorry for him because he's a coward. I mean really. You won't have much trouble from him." I added.

"What about the last one?" Prowl asked.

"Slipstream," I replied, thinking _why can I say HER name properly, but not Starscream's?_ "The aqua one, is kind of hard to deal with. You…might have a few problems with…her."

The mechs gasped.

"Did-I-hear-that-right!?" Blurr cried.

"Starscream has a _female_ clone!?" Ratchet exclaimed. He looked shocked.

"Is that a _problem_?" Chromia, Glyph, Flare-Up, Rosa and I all asked in unison. We were glaring at him.

"Not at all," Optimus said quickly, to save the argument. "So, we've got five new Starscream's to deal with – El, is there anything else we should know about?"

There was, but I was forgetting what it was. Instead, I just asked: "Umm, what time is it?" Sunny and Sides' had taken Jass home, and it was almost time for me to go home too. I needed to feed Saphira, though she was used to waiting for her meals at my house.

"About ten-thirty," Optimus replied. "Why?"

I said: "I need to go home and feed my cat…"

The others exchanged a glance.

"El, why don't we just stay here tonight?" Rosa asked. "I mean, some of your stuff's already here, isn't it? And Ratchet's probably not gonna let you out of his sight, anyways…" She shrugged.

"But Saphira..?"

"We'll get the twins to do it," Chromia said soothingly, as Optimus transferred me to the floor, and Chromia was leading me to the bed I had been using in the base. "They can guard the house while you're here, too."

"Okay," I said, yawning, and allowing myself to be put to bed. "And then we're going to find Bumblebee tomorrow?"

"I didn't say that!" Ratchet snapped.

"No, I did." Rosa replied, and I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

***

"_Do you love me, Ella?"_

"_Do you love me?"_

_He chuckled. "I love it when you answer a question like that…" His soft pink lips leaning closer to mine. His eyes smouldering…but why was one red and one blue?_

_THAT was very confusing – but the kissing part wasn't._

***

I awoke with a start later that night/early the next morning, to hear voices. I was a bit embarrassed by my dream, and realised I'd watched _Twilight_ way too many times. I strained my ears to listen. It sounded like a three-way conversation between Optimus, Ratchet and Chromia, and the latter didn't sound too pleased.

"Why should I be staying behind, Optimus?" She wanted to know.

"Because," Optimus sounded patient, but I could tell he was tired, and worried. "You're the only one of the fems who can imitate El _perfectly_, and we need this to go by on this end without any hitches."

"Besides, the less of us who are going, the better." Ratchet grumbled.

"Oh, so then why are Bulkhead and Prowl going?" Chromia shot back, Clearly, she considered them to be 'extra baggage' in this sense.

Optimus said: "We've been through this before, Chromia."

"I am worried." She said. "And for good reason," She added, and I sensed she was glaring at something, or some_bot_. "Every time El goes out, she gets injured, and I'm burdened with the guilt that I am letting my sister down by being unable to do the job she went offline doing."

This was interesting. Chromia had a sister? I knew that in the movie, Chromia and Arcee and Elita1 are considered sisters…hey, wait, did that mean that Blackarachnia was..!?

And, did that _also_ mean that Arcee had been offlined protecting me?

I had known _Arcee_!?

I focused again, as Ratchet was talking. "We've already got _one_ bot fixated on the past coming with us," And I knew he was talking about Prowl. "We don't need _two_." And then his voice softened. "Chromia, listen – I know exactly where you're coming from. And, I'd bet my EMP Generator if I still had it that Prowl would rather _die_ before he let anything happen to El. We _all_ would." He added.

"Is that why she's here?" Chromia questioned.

"Yes," Optimus replied. "I just got a call from Sunstreaker, saying that he spotted Barricade driving past Ella's house about an hour ago. Barricade didn't stop, but he was no doubt looking for Ella."

"We can't leave her alone anymore." Chromia whispered.

I suddenly sensed that they were looking at me, and I felt like I was being scanned. I panicked – couldn't a Transformer tell if you were asleep or not!?

But, as it turns out, that wasn't what they were scanning for.

"The All-Spark's power is growing inside of her," Ratchet said quietly, and it frustrated me that they kept their voices down because of me. I wanted to scream 'I'M AWAKE, YOU CAN TALK IN ROOM VOICES NOW!!!!'. But, of course, I didn't. I kept quiet.

"Will it…do what it did before?" Chromia's voice was hushed.

_Do what?_

"I don't know," Optimus said, and I was relaxed by the sound of his voice, despite the fact that he was worried. "I _hope_ not because, if it goes that way…"

"Then we'll have to do something about it." Chromia fairly growled. "We _can't_ let what happened eight years ago happen again…"

Eight years ago…that was when Mamma died…

Mamma was gone, and so was Daddy…

Wreck-Gar and Kcud had sacrificed themselves to save me – and not to mention everybody else.

And…what if we couldn't get Bumblebee back? Then…he would die too. Not only that, but Karr was still with the Decepticons.

My two best friends – captured, basically.

Bumblebee…

Tears came to my eyes, and flowed freely.

"Bumblebee…we're coming…"

I didn't realise I'd spoken the words out loud.

"It's okay Ella. We'll rescue him." Prowl's voice whispered in my ear, and his holoform began to rub circles on my back in the most comforting manner, and he began to sing softly: "_Sugute ni hairu yume nante yume ja nai yo_

_demo kanarazu kanau to shinjiteru yo_

_kujikenai kimi ga suki..._

_nakitai toki aru nara_

_soba ni zutto zutto iru kara_..."

"I know Prowl...thank you..." I whispered. I fell back to sleep, and didn't wake up again until eight o'clock.

***

(TRANSLATION: Still, I believe that they'll be granted without fail.

I won't give in. I love you...

If you ever want to cry,

I'll always, always be by your side, and so...)


	40. The Day Of

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Day Of

***

By nine-thirty that morning, we were all ready to go and rescue Bumblebee.

I was up in my room, doing last minute things, remembering last minute things (my toothbrush, for one) and listening through the open window to Sunny and Optimus arguing.

"Because of the chance that El's family will come back early, or we won't be back when they return on schedule." Optimus explained.

"I don't like it," Sunny said stubbornly. "You guys _need_ me. And why the slag is _Blurr_ going?"

"Because Blurr knows where this joint is, and we only know vaguely where it, due to interference in the communication channels." Glyph replied. "And, before you ask, _I'm_ going because I'm a hacker."

"You got that right." Sunny muttered, interpreting the double-meaning.

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, grow up Sunstreaker." Chromia muttered.

"You grow up!" He snapped back.

"No, _you_!"

"You!"

"You!"

"No you!"

"KNOCK IT OFF BOTH OF YOU!!!!" Ratchet yelled.

I smiled, grabbed my bag and ran downstairs, looking for Saphira. "Saphy? Where are you?" I called.

Usually she comes running, but today she didn't. On the one day I needed to say goodbye to her!

I couldn't find her anywhere. I dropped my bag in the front hall and looked everywhere.

I ran out the back looking for her, and stopped.

Something was pulling me to the left, toward the old tool shed. Remembering the last time I'd been in there, I wondered why. I found out as soon as I got there.

The silver box Bee had taken an interest to was _glowing_, and floating in mid air.

"Umm…okay…" I said, going over to it, and touching it tentatively (yeah, that's it; touch the glowing, don't-know-what-is object). A dozen images flashed by in my mind, too fast for me to make sense of. "Did we just have a conversation?"

"Ella?" I heard Glyph call from the back porch. "Are we leaving now?"

"Yes!" I called back, and grabbed the box, which immediately stopped glowing as I shut the shed door and ran out, back to the house.

"What's that?" Glyph asked, as we made our way into the front hall.

I shrugged. "I dunno, I just wanted to take it with me." For some reason, I didn't feel like telling anyone about the glowing business just yet.

Glyph picked up my bag. "Jeez, what did you pack, _asteroids_?"

"Only a few." I grinned, and we made our way onto the front lawn.

There, Bulky, Optimus, Prowl, Ratchet, Glyph and Rosa were waiting to leave.

Sunny, Sides', Flare-Up and Chromia were staying behind, but Chromia, Sunny and I had something important to do first.

I got into Sunny, with Chromia in her alt mode in my hand, and we left.

We drove around the corner to where Blurr was waiting for us, and Chromia and I got out.

Chromia assumed her holoform, and then she hugged me.

I hugged her back and, when she pulled away, she looked almost exactly like me, except with blue eyes. But Chromia had bought contact lenses.

"Can you find Saphira foe me?" I asked her, and she nodded.

"Take care," She told me.

"Bring back Bumblebee – he owes me a race." Sunny added.

I nodded. "I will – I promise." _I won't come back without him, whatever that means._ I added silently, as I climbed into Blurr. "By guys!" I called, as Blurr and I sped out of sight.

The neighbours had seen me leave in Sunny, and they would see "me" arrive each evening back home in Sunny.

The neighbours never spoke to Fran, so no way she and her daughters would know about all this.

"Hey, Blurr?" I asked.

"Yes-Ella?"

"Where are we going anyway?" I wanted to know.

"Oh-didn't-Glyph-tell-you?" Blurr asked.

"No, she didn't." I replied. I could understand Blurr perfectly, since I'd been watching Transformers Animated for so many years now. "So…where _are_ we going, Blurr?"

"Albany."

"_What_!?" I yelped.


	41. Welcoming Committee

CHAPTER EIGHT

Welcoming Committee

***

"The first town founded in Western Australia…"

"We don't need the history lesson, Glyph," I replied, before sipping furiously on my Mocha Chill. She and Rosa were riding with me and Blurr, in the front of the pack. I felt like we were in RotF or something, heading off the Egypt to save somebot. "If I'd known it was so far away, then I would have demanded we leave yesterday." I was annoyed, even though Blurr had sworn up and down that he'd get me there in two hours when it usually takes five.

"Just be thankful you're coming at all!" Ratchet's angry voice came through the com-link. "And if you hurt yourself again, then I am going to _chain_ you to that bed until you get better!"

I blinked. "Umm…okay…" I said, and then glanced at Glyph, who was in her alt mode. "Pokemon Battle?" I asked, holding up Rosa, who had the Pokemon Platinum game loaded.

"Cool," Said Glyph, calling up the pirated RPG on her screen, and we spent the next two hours battling blissfully.

***

_Bumblebee's P.O.V:_

_I was hanging by my wrists, listening to a conversation, pretending to be in stasis. But, since no one was actually looking at me, I could just watch them._

"_The Autobots will be here soon," Soundwave said in his monotone._

_Megatron's red optics glowed. "Do they have Ella with them?" He wanted to know, anticipation creeping into his dark voice._

_I bristled._

_I was dreading the answer, and my inner-energon ran cold when Soundwave said: "Affirmative."_

_Megatron smiled. "Excellent. Lockdown, Lugnut, Soundwave and Blackarachnia – you are the welcoming committee." He smirked. "I __trust__ you all know what to do."_

_Blackarachnia stepped forward, and smiled evilly. "Of __course__…"_

_I didn't like that sound of __that__, at all…_

***

"We're getting closer…" I whispered. My right hand pulsed. "I can feel it…hey, plus it's getting colder!"

"Well duh." Glyph replied. "The next closest land to Albany is the South Pole."

"Quiet you." I said, shutting the top of the lap top computer down.


End file.
